Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday hailed the release of Saeed Abedini, an American pastor held in Iran, who was freed along with three others as part of a prisoner exchange.
“Praise God! Surely bad parts of Obama’s latest deal, but prayers of thanksgiving that Pastor Saeed is coming home,” Cruz tweeted Saturday morning.
Cruz then tweeted, “Hopeful this long ordeal for our four Americans held hostage in Iran finally appears to be over.”
Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency reported that the longtime U.S. foe freed four Iranian-American prisoners: Abedini, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmat and Nosratollah Khosrawi.
Republican presidential candidates have frequently blasted President Barack Obama for his handling of Iran’s custody of American prisoners.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump regularly cites the prisoners in bashing the Iranian nuclear deal, stressing that if he were negotiating the landmark agreement, he would have first demanded and secured the prisoners’ release. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio last spring joined 20 other senators in penning a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry saying that the Obama administration should push for the prisoners’ release as part of the nuclear deal’s negotiations.