[ad_1]
Iran is ready for an unconditional and comprehensive prisoner exchange with the United States, but no response to the offer has yet been received, said Ali Rabjej, a Tehran government spokesman quoted on Sunday by the Khabaronline news portal.
Iran is concerned about the safety and health of its incarcerated citizens in the United States and is holding US authorities accountable for the health of Iranians imprisoned in the wake of the new coronavirus epidemic, he said, adding that in return no you need no mediator.
It was a rare case of cooperation between the two hostile countries when Xiyue Wang, a university student jailed in Iran, and an Iranian stem cell researcher in Saudi Arabia Solomonand, who was jailed in the United States, were exchanged last year. The student was jailed on espionage charges for three years, and US authorities accused the investigator of violating sanctions against Iran.
Relations between the two countries have become particularly hostile since United States President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the major powers in 2018 and reintroduced punitive measures against Iran that severely affected their economy.
Already last week, three Iranian officials told Reuters they were discussing a prisoner exchange with Washington. A possible US prisoner is Michael White, a Navy veteran who has been in Iran since 2018. He was released from prison in March for health reasons, but cannot leave the country. A possible Iranian prisoner is Professor Sirus Asgari, who has been accused of stealing trade secrets but has already been acquitted and is only waiting to obtain a medical certificate to leave the United States, unidentified Iranian and American officials said Tuesday.
According to the Reuters news agency, it is not possible to know how many Americans are detained in Iran, dozens of Iranians in the United States, many of them for violating the sanctions.
[ad_2]
