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By Yeganeh Torbati, Joel Schectman and Matt Spetalnick HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When FBI agents arrested Bahram Mechanic in April last year, prosecutors described the Houston-based Iranian-American entrepreneur as an illegal purchasing agent for Iran’s military and a threat to national security. When the 69-year-old walked out of a Houston detention center on Sunday before dawn, it was with a pardon from President Barack Obama that was negotiated secretly with Iran over months in exchange for the release of four Americans. The reversal of fortune for Mechanic and six other Iranian men who received clemency in a deal accompanying the lifting of international sanctions on Iran underscores how quickly assumptions about U.S. relations with Tehran have shifted.More...