HuffPost: The American Prisoners Just Left Iran. But Kerry Almost Got Them Out Months Ago.
Worth reading, folks.
One more reason SoS Kerry is one of the best US diplomats in moderns history. He never gives up as long as political solutions and peacefull talks are possible.
John Kerry is relieved that Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosrawi-Roodsari are finally free. But the secretary of state thought he had secured their release months ago.
Last July, just before the U.S., Iran and five world powers announced they had reached an agreement on Iran's nuclear program, Kerry had a conversation about the prisoners with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and President Hassan Rouhani's brother, Hossein Fereydoun, in Vienna. “They nodded their heads, and we thought, ‘We’re gonna get it done,’” Kerry told reporters aboard a red-eye flight from Vienna to Andrews Air Force Base early Sunday morning.
In November, Kerry and Zarif met again in Vienna, where they were attending Syrian peace talks. Afterward, they went to Zarif's hotel room and spoke again about the prisoners. “We actually shook hands, thinking we had an agreement,” Kerry said. “I thought it was done.”
Kerry was deliberately vague about what happened next, but when Zarif took the proposed agreement back to Tehran, at least one Iranian government agency objected. “So we went back to work,” Kerry said.
More here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-kerry-iran-prisoner-exchange_569b799fe4b0b4eb759eaa09?lh4zpvi=