Iran claims prisoner swap deal with the US, Washington denies

Middle East, News, US March 13, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Iranian foreign ministry has claimed that it has worked out a prisoner swap deal with the U.S. counterparts and an initial agreement has been reached, however, the U.S. officials have denied the claims.

While speaking at a televised interview through Iran’s state-owned media, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that “We reached an agreement in the past few days and if everything goes well on the American side, I think we will witness a prisoner exchange in the short term.”

The Iranian foreign minister further claimed that “An agreement was signed between us and the American side during indirect talks in March last year, but the grounds to implement it have now been prepared. In our point of view, everything is ready. The American side is engaged in its final technical coordination.”

The White House, however, denied the claims made by the Iranian foreign minister. A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said that “Unfortunately, Iranian officials will not hesitate to make things up.” The White House spokesperson further added that the “latest cruel claim will cause more heartache for the families of Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz,” referring to the dual-national American-Iranian citizen held in Iran.

^{Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a press conference with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at the foreign ministry headquarters in Iran’s capital Tehran, on June 25, 2022. (Image Credit: AFP/via Dailysabah)}

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price also said in a statement that reports about Iranian officials claiming “that a deal regarding the exchange of prisoners has been reached are another especially cruel lie that only adds to the suffering of their families.” However, Price added that the U.S. officials are “working relentlessly to secure the release of the three wrongfully detained Americans in Iran. We will not stop until they are reunited with their loved ones”.

Some independent sources confirmed that there have been some negotiations conducted between Iran and the U.S. prisoner exchange. Qatar and Switzerland have been involved in the indirect prisoner exchange talks between Tehran and Washington.

According to reports, Iran is engaging in the prisoner swap deal to release the $7 billion oil funds, frozen in South Korea under the U.S. sanctions.

Iran’s comments on the prisoner swap deal come at a time when its deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, is in Oman to negotiate terms for reinitiating the nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

*^{Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi in Muscat, Oman, on March 12, 2023. (Image Credit: Twitter/@snntv_en)}*

In 2018, then-U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers as he reimposed sanctions on Iran crippling its economy. However, the Biden administration has been trying to reinstate the nuclear deal with Iran while trying to negotiate with Tehran for the release of three of its citizens.

One of the three prisoners, Siamak Namazi was arrested by the Iranian authorities in 2016, along with his father Baquer Namazi after they arrived in Tehran. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison on the charges of collaborating with a foreign government. In October 2022, the 85-year-old Baquer Namazi was released due to his bad health condition, however, Siamak Namazi remains in an Iranian prison. He is one of the longest-held Iranian-American citizens in Iran.

Another Iranian American Emad Sharghi has been in an Iranian prison for four years under the charges of spying and conspiring against the Iranian regime, while Morad Tahbaz, and London-born Iranian-American citizen, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 under the same charges.