Seems like a big departure from what he said about the Bergdahl exchange:
I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents and that the American people understand that this is somebodys child and that we dont condition whether or not we make every effort to try to get them back.
Quite a different scope though. Trading Bergdahl for other prisoners didn't hinge on a global scale tipping. And, in the new quote, he says they are still trying to free them via the regular channels, so it isn't like he isn't making the effort (as far as we know from current information anyway).