Obama pardons three on Iran sanctions - lawyer

U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House upon return to Washington from Louisiana January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has pardoned three Iranian-Americans who were charged with sanctions violations, a lawyer for one of the men told Reuters on Saturday. Obama has pardoned Bahram Mechanic, Tooraj Faridi and Khosrow Afghahi, said Joel Androphy, a lawyer for Mechanic. "We're ecstatic that the president has decided to pardon them for basically trade issues ... that are nothing more than typical business transactions that don't rise to the level of criminality," Androphy told Reuters. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati)