Iran nearly scuttled prisoner exchange at last minute

Ali Rezanian, brother of imprisoned Washington Post reporter, talks to the media

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 19 January 2016

On Sunday, Iran suddenly refused to allow the wife and mother of Jason Rezanian, the Washington Post reporter at the center of a U.S.-Iran prisoner swap, to leave with him, nearly sinking the carefully negotiated agreement. Rezanian's mother, Mary, and wife, Yeganeh, were being held without telephones at a room in the Tehran airport, but U.S. officials and the Swiss negotiators representing the U.S. had no idea where they were. "The U.S. stuck to its guns, they had said Yegi had to come along with Jason and they got her out," Ali Rezaian, Jason Rezanian's brother, told CNN on Monday.

The missing mother and wife prompted a call from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to call his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who reportedly intervened and helped break the logjam. "We started to conclude that Mary and Yegi were being held to destroy the deal," an American official tells The New York Times, comparing the situation to the movie Argo. Jason Rezanian and two of the five other Iranian-Americans arrived in Landstulh, Germany, on Sunday, and they are undergoing medical evaluations.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.