A senior White House official confirmed today that five Americans held in custody in Iran, along with two female family members, have left Iran as part of a prisoner exchangeagreed upon by Washington and Tehran.

Iran and the US have agreed to a prisoner exchange, after confirming that six billion dollars of Iranian funds were released from South Korea. Five Iranian prisoners will be released and in exchange five American citizens held in Iran will be handed over to the American side.

Five Iranian nationals, who had pending prosecutions or convictions in the US for non-violent offenses would benefit from clemency measures, the US official confirmed. He noted that this prisoner exchange — considered politically dangerous for President Joe Biden — would be accompanied by sanctions against Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as well as former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A little earlier today, sources said a Qatar Airways plane carrying five Americans detained in Iran, along with two of their family members and Qatar’s ambassador to Iran, took off from Tehran airport bound for Doha.

Iranian media reported that two of the five Iranian prisoners released by the US, Merdad Moin-Ansari and Reza Shahrhangpour-Kafrani, disembarked from the plane that was taking them to Doha. The other three Iranian prisoners were also released, according to the Tasnim news agency, but do not wish to go to Iran.