Trump says American held in Iran since 2018 freed, on his way home

It took 683 days.

After a nearly two-year detention in Iran, American Michael White is a free man.

White, the U.S.Navyveteran had been on medical furlough from an Iranian prisonsinceMarch, after being diagnosed with the coronavirus and transferred to the custody of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

White, who had contracted the coronavirus while in Iran, flew out on a Swiss military jet to Zurich where he was welcomed by a senior U.S. official.

According to the U.S. State Department, he was arrested in Iran 2018 and was serving a 13-year sentence.

White was charged with privacy violations and insulting Iran's Supreme Leader.

White's mother says, "the nightmare is over" and her son is on his way home.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that white is out of Iran with Switzerland's help.

"I am happy to announce that Navy Veteran, Michael White, who has been detained by Iran for 683 days, is on a Swiss plane that just left Iranian Airspace. We expect him to be home with his family in America very soon....

.... I will never stop working to secure the release of all Americans held hostage overseas! Thank you, Switzerland, for your great assistance."

Trump also said he had spoken to White by telephone and voiced rare appreciation to Iran, with which the United States was close to all-out war several months ago. "Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iran and Switzerland has long represented U.S. interests there.

White's release comes two days after the United States deported Iranian scientist Sirous Asgari, charged in 2016 with stealing trade secrets from a U.S. university but acquitted last November.

U.S. and Iranian officials deny reports of a prisoner exchange deal. White's release also comes as Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif confirmed on Twitter the release of an Iranian American doctor, Majid Taheri, jailed for 16 months for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

"Pleased that Dr. Majid Taheri and Mr. White will soon be joining their families. Prof. Sirous Asgari was happily reunited with his family on Weds. This can happen for all prisoners. No need for cherry-picking. Iranian hostages held in—and on behalf of—the US should come home."

The men's release marks a rare act of cooperation between the two countries which were on the brink of war earlier this year.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) released a statement saying in part:

"We are pleased to see that the Trump administration appears to have utilized the diplomatic playbook it has so frequently neglected with Iran. We encourage the Trump administration to move aggressively to secure the release of other Americans who remain unjustly and outrageously detained."

All of this comes during a deadly coronavirus pandemic and massive protests over racial justice and police brutality in the United States and criticism over President Trump's handling of both.

White is the second American to be released by Iran during Trump's presidency.

Xiyue Wang, a Princeton graduate student, was released last year in a prisoner swap with Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani.

(CGTN)