The US President Barack Obama hailed Iran nuclear agreement progress as the US prisoners are on way to home after a swap deal made a public.

The US President Barack Obama hailed Iran nuclear agreement progress as the US prisoners are on way to home after a swap deal made a public.

"Engaging directly with the Iranian government on a sustained basis, for the first time in decades, has created a unique opportunity, a window, to resolve important issues," Obama said from the White House during a rare Sunday public statement, according to CNN.

The President hailed the recent developments as further proof his decision to engage directly with Iran was a more effective path than had been pursued in past decades.

"We've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy," he said, "without resorting to another war in the Middle East."

He also said Saturday marked a "milestone" in making sure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon.

"We've now closed off every single path Iran had to building a (nuclear) bomb," he said. "We'll know if Iran ever tries to break out."

Meanwhile, a Swiss plane took Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief; Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho; and Amir Hekmati, a former US Marine from Flint, Michigan, as well as some family members, from Tehran to Geneva, Switzerland.

Shortly afterward, the three left for a US military base in Germany, arriving there later on Sunday, a US State Department official said.

One more Iranian-American released under the same swap, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, was not aboard the aircraft. A fifth prisoner, American student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately on Saturday, a US official said.

Several Iranian-Americans held in US prisons “after being charged or convicted for sanctions violations” have also been released, their lawyers told Reuters on Sunday.