Three American hostages are still being detained in Iran, with another American believed to be missing. Their release was not a part of the Obama administration’s demands as it was drafting its nuclear agreement with Iran. Now, with the sanctions against the Iranian regime lifted, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN he is willing to release the American hostages in exchange for a few of their own:
"There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison as a result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran," he said through an interpreter.
"Once these sanctions have been lifted, why keep those folks in American prisons?"
"So they must be freed."
Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren asked Secretary of State John Kerry on “On the Record” whether the administration is willing to accept his offer. He punted a direct answer, yet did not deny
“I'm not going to get into the details," he said. "We are fixated on getting our citizens back.”
Kerry, when Susteren pressed him further, insisted he won’t discuss what we “might or might not do” and simply repeated his wish.
“It's my hope that in the course of the next days, weeks, but as short as possible, I hope our citizens will come home," he remarked. "We're continuing to focus on it.”
Susteren also asked Kerry about his email use during his tenure in the State Department, a rather obvious reference to Hillary Clinton’s developing scandal.
“I use the State Department server,” he said. “All my emails are recoverable within the process of the State Department.”
Read more about the American patriots languishing in Iran because they dared to practice freedoms we take for granted.