Former U.S. Captive in Iran Hails Prisoner Exchange Just as Nuclear Deal Eases Crippling Sanctions

"Democracy Now!" airs weekdays at 9 a.m. PT on KCET.

The United States and Iran have conducted a prisoner exchange just as the historic nuclear deal took effect this weekend.

The U.S. freed seven Iranian nationals convicted of violating economic sanctions. In exchange, Iran freed four Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. The other prisoners freed were Marine veteran Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, whose imprisonment had been secret until the exchange was announced. A fifth American national, student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately from the prisoner swap and has returned to the United States.

The exchange coincides with the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. The U.S. and other world powers have partially lifted crippling economic sanctions after the International Atomic Energy Agency certified Iran's compliance with the dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure. "Democracy Now!" is joined by Shane Bauer, a journalist who spent 26 months in Tehran's Evin Prison, four of them in solitary, after he and two other Americans, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, were captured in July 2009 while hiking near the unmarked Iran-Iraq border. Bauer is an award-winning senior reporter at Mother Jones and co-author of the memoir, "A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran."