Iran says it agrees prisoner swap with US, Washington denies claim By Reuters

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran and the US have reached an settlement to alternate prisoners, Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian instructed state TV on Sunday, however Washington denied it as a “false” declare by Tehran.

“Concerning the problem of prisoner swaps between Iran and the U.S. we’ve got reached an settlement within the current days and if the whole lot goes properly on the U.S. facet, I believe we’ll witness a prisoner alternate in a brief interval,” Amirabdollahian mentioned.

“On our half the whole lot is prepared, whereas the U.S. is at the moment engaged on the ultimate technical coordination.” 

A White Home official denied Amirabdollahian’s assertion concerning the prisoner swap, however added that the US was dedicated to securing the discharge of People held in Iran.

“Claims by Iranian officers that we’ve got reached a deal for the discharge of the U.S. residents wrongfully held by Iran are false,” a spokesperson for the White Home Nationwide Safety Council mentioned.

A supply briefed on the talks mentioned the prisoner alternate is “nearer than it has ever been,” however one of many remaining sticking factors is linked to $7 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds beneath U.S. sanctions in South Korea.

“The logistics of how these funds will likely be exchanged and the way oversight will likely be supplied are unresolved,” mentioned the supply, who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The supply added that Qatar and Switzerland have been concerned within the prisoner alternate talks. Iranian sources instructed Reuters that two regional nations had been concerned within the oblique talks between Tehran and Washington.     

Considered one of a number of People held in Iran is Siamak Namazi, a businessman with twin U.S.-Iranian citizenship, who was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in jail for spying and cooperating with the U.S. authorities.

Emad Sharghi, an Iranian American businessman first arrested in 2018 when he was working for a tech funding firm, can be jailed in Iran, as is Iranian American environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who additionally holds British citizenship.

For years, Tehran has sought the discharge of greater than a dozen Iranians in the US, together with seven Iranian American twin nationals, two Iranians with everlasting U.S. residency and 4 Iranian residents with no authorized standing in the US.

The Islamic Republic, which is holding dozens of Iranian twin nationals and foreigners, has been accused by rights activists of arresting them to attempt to extract concessions from different nations. Iran has dismissed the cost.

Some Iranian media reported final week that Iran had reached a prisoner swap deal in alternate for the discharge of the $7 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds.

In 2018, then-U.S. president Donald Trump ditched a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and 6 powers and reimposed sanctions which have crippled the Islamic Republic’s financial system.

The deal had imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear actions in alternate for lifting worldwide sanctions. In response to Washington’s sanctions, Tehran has progressively violated curbs of the pact on its nuclear programme.

Oblique talks between Tehran and U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on reviving the settlement have stalled since September. The deal imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear actions in alternate for lifting worldwide sanctions.