Inside the crucial final hours as American diplomats tackled last minute obstacles to bring five Americans imprisoned in Iran home

CNN — In the final hours as the United States closed in on a controversial but historic deal to bring five Americans deemed wrongfully detained in Iran home, Iranian officials threw up roadblocks, attempted to force the US government to make last minute concessions and even stalled the process minutes before the detainees were set to board a flight out of Tehran. According to the officials, acting US Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley and Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens arrived in Doha on Saturday afternoon to coordinate with Qatari and Swiss officials on the logistics for the release of the five American detainees and two of their family members, which they anticipated would take place on Monday. There was a delay, however, because the Iranian officials “couldn’t find the head of the Central Bank to sign some letter that they had to transmit throughout their interagency to then authorize people to let them leave the hotel and go to the airport to pave the way for everything,” the senior State Department official told CNN. The department had solidified their plans to bring the returned Americans to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, about 10 days prior to the release, another US official told CNN, and staff from the Defense Department’s Post Isolation Support Activities program flew in to be ready to help.