VIENNA, 23 Feb: According to Reuters, Iran has said that its government would be open to a prisoner swap with the United States of America in accordance to sealing a deal to revive a 2015 nuclear deal entitled, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Any agreement for prisoner releases alongside a nuclear accord would mirror steps taken when the original 2015 nuclear deal was officially implemented.
It was also reported that a U.S – Iranian deal was conducted in Vienna in relation to the revival of the nuclear pact which will see America reinstated back into it after then-U.S President Donald Trump abandoned the deal.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the Islamic Republic was ready for an immediate prisoner exchange with the United States.
Speaking on the matter, U.S. negotiator Robert Malley suggested that the nuclear pact will only reach a conclusion if Tehran releases four U.S citizens including Iranian-American father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi, who Washington says Tehran is holding hostage.
On Tuesday, Malley tweeted, “Six years ago the Iranian government arrested Baquer Namazi and they still refuse to let him leave the country. The Iranian government can and must release the Namazis, Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and other unjustly held U.S. and foreign nationals.”
In return Iran wants the release of over a dozen Iranians in the United States, including seven Iranian-American dual nationals, two Iranians with permanent U.S. residency and four Iranian citizens with no legal status in the United States.
Most of which have been detained and sentenced to jail for “violating U.S. sanctions against Iran”.
Britain has also called on Iran to free two UK detainees. Without explicitly linking the issues, Britain says it is also committed to paying hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Tehran for a 1970s arms deal with the then-Shah of Iran. – TVS
