Two other Americans – Mr. Heath, who was arrested in 2020, and Mr. Khan, who was arrested earlier this year – were also among those released by Venezuela on Saturday.
Asked if the release of Venezuelan drug traffickers would spur Maduro to detain more Americans, the senior administration official said he hopes the Venezuelan president and others realize that the decision of the president was a “rare” action that is not likely to be repeated often.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio lashed out at the administration on Twitter.
“Today Biden freed two nephews of convicted drug dealers of #Venezuela dictator Maduro in exchange for taking 7 innocent Americans hostage,” said Mr. Rubio, whose state is home to many Venezuelans who have fled. socialist governments there.
“Another Biden appeasement that will result in more anti-American dictators taking more innocent Americans hostage in the future,” Mr. Rubio wrote.
In Iran, it is not known what prompted the release of the Namazis.
“We have been working on a furlough for years, he would be eligible for the furlough after serving more than half his term. It’s been a long time coming,” said Jared Genser, the Namazi family’s pro bono attorney. “We are not there yet, we are not going to rest until all the Namazis are able to return to the United States and their long nightmare finally comes to an end.”
Mr. Genser said young Mr. Namazi’s leave, although renewable, is only for seven days. “He still needs to be able to leave Iran and return to the United States,” Genser said. “We hope and pray that this will happen soon, but there has been no agreement between the United States and Iran to release all American hostages.”
António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said in a statement on Saturday that he was grateful that the former Mr. Namazi, a former senior UNICEF official, had been allowed to leave Iran for treatment in abroad following the call of Mr. Guterres. to President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran.