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Trump Secures Release of American Student Held in Iran
Townhall.com ^ | December 7, 2019 | Bronson Stocking

Posted on 12/07/2019 12:54:46 PM PST by Kaslin

On Saturday, the State Department secured the release of Xiyue Wang, an American graduate student who was being held prisoner in Iran for the past three years. Wang had been conducting research in Iran as part of his doctoral thesis when he was arrested in 2016 and charged with spying for the United States government. 

As part of the exchange, the U.S. released Masoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist who had been arrested and convicted last year for violating U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. According to The New York Times, U.S. officials are calling Soleimani's release a low price to pay to secure Mr. Wang's freedom, since Soleimani was expected to be released as early as next month as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. 

The White House put out a statement acknowledging that "Mr. Wang had been held under the pretense of espionage since August 2016" and thanking "our Swiss partners for their assistance in negotiating Mr. Wang's release with Iran." The statement declares the safety and well-being of citizens is the highest priority of the United States government. "Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas."

President Trump has been able to use his negotiation skills to secure the release of American prisoners held captive abroad. In 2017, President Trump secured the release of Aya Hijazi, an American humanitarian worker who had been detained in Egypt for more than three years. In 2018, Trump took unprecedented efforts to secure the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American swept up in President Erdogan's purges following the unsuccessful coup against the Turkish leader. Trump also secured the release of Joshua Holt in 2018. Holt is an American Mormon that was held captive in Venezuela for nearly two years and never given a trial. “We’ve had 17 released, and we’re very proud of that record," Trump said as he welcomed Holt back to the United States in May 2018. "Very proud. And we have others coming." 

Trump's business acumen and experience in high-stakes negotiations have seemingly helped the commander-in-chief strike much better terms with foreign governments than Trump's immediate predecessor. Obama famously traded five Taliban terrorists for the release of American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter who was subsequently and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army. It was reported last year that the five Taliban Terrorists released by President Obama had rejoined their fellow terrorists on the battlefield.  


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: djibouti; eritrea; hassannasrallah; hezbollah; hostages; iran; iranhostagecrisis; iranianregime; lebanon; masoudsoleimani; negotiations; prisoner; sudan; trumpadministration; xiyuewang; yemen

1 posted on 12/07/2019 12:54:46 PM PST by Kaslin
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Democrats Outraged!


2 posted on 12/07/2019 12:56:33 PM PST by dsrtsage (Complexity is merely simplicity lacking imagination)
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To: Kaslin

Educating Liberals on twitter posted recently that Trump negotiated the sale of rice to China.

Then described Trump as a legend.
I am inclined to agree.


3 posted on 12/07/2019 1:02:30 PM PST by MarMema
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To: Kaslin

The trade deal passing in Japan, the Jobs Report and now this. President Trump had a very good week that will be totally ignored by the Fake News in their insane lust for Impeachment


4 posted on 12/07/2019 1:11:39 PM PST by MNJohnnie (They would have to abandon leftism to achieve sanity. Freeper Olog-hai)
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To: Kaslin

How will the media twist this into something bad?


5 posted on 12/07/2019 1:21:55 PM PST by I want the USA back (If free speech is taken away, dumb and silent we are led, like sheep to the slaughter: G Washington)
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To: Kaslin

As if there weren’t 3,295,498 other topics for his thesis. Glad no one had to die rescuing him.


6 posted on 12/07/2019 1:54:33 PM PST by bgill
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To: Kaslin

I continue to be disturbed by people who go to places like Iran and NK as tourists or as in this case, doctorate “research.” They must understand the risk involved. Also, what kind of research was this guy involved in???


7 posted on 12/07/2019 2:13:55 PM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said theoal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: elpadre
I continue to be disturbed by people who go to places like Iran and NK as tourists or as in this case, doctorate “research.” They must understand the risk involved. Also, what kind of research was this guy involved in???

1. They are egomaniacs.
2. Even though they are TOLD about the dangers they'll face, they see life through a fog of their own self-consequence.
3. They are stupid.
4. They know NOTHING of the Middle East--NOTHING!
5. They deserve everything they get.

8 posted on 12/07/2019 2:23:47 PM PST by cloudmountain
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To: I want the USA back

Just don’t cover it. That’s what they do with anything that shows Trump in a good light


9 posted on 12/07/2019 3:44:14 PM PST by wiseprince
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