The language we used is a medical evacuation, not a release, covid gave us an opportunity. There are Iranians in American custody with Covid, so it was a medical-release-to-medical-release. Majid Taheri, they claimed, had a health condition so it was also compatible.

Mickey Bergman

Michael "Mickey" Bergman is the Vice President and Executive Director of the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, where his graduate level courses focus on the art of emotional intelligence in International Relations and negotiations. He has pioneered the field of Fringe Diplomacy, an area of global engagement that connects people in arenas typically left void by governments and NGOs. Mickey Bergman has become known as an expert in the fields of Cuba, North Korea, and Myanmar. Nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Former Governor Bill Richardson; Mickey has led his team at the Richardson Center to facilitate the release of more political prisoners than any other organization, including American Student, Otto Warmbier, from North Korea, and Princeton student, Xiyue Wang, from Iran. Mickey creates new political capital by leading Professional Exchange Programs to frontier countries such as North Korea, Myanmar, Cuba, Lebanon, and others. He has worked as Executive Director of the Global Alliances Program at the Aspen Institute. He is also the Founder and President of the Solel Strategic Group (SSG). Mickey has published numerous articles, interviews, and opinion pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, Foreign Policy Online, and Huffington Post. Mickey also has been featured as a subject matter expert for television interviews on CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, I24news, Global News, and ABC News Australia.

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