‘A POSITIVE STEP’: Five Americans who the U.S. says have been unjustly imprisoned in Iran for years may soon be freed under terms of a Biden administration deal worked out through Swiss intermediaries that would release several jailed Iranians and unfreeze Iranian oil revenues held by South Korea.

The five, of which only three have been identified, are now under house arrest in a hotel in Tehran, but U.S. officials say the deal is not yet finalized. “My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “It’s a positive step that they were released from prison and sent to home detention. But this is just the beginning of a process.”