Abbas Mousavi, Iranian foreign ministry has disclosed on that Iran is ready for further prisoner exchange with the United States.
As part of US-Iranian swap deal, a US Navy veteran Michael White who was detained in 2019 after he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for insulting Iran’s supreme leader and posting private information online was freed last Thursday as the United States has allowed Majid Taheri, Iranian-American physician to travel to Iran.
Taheri had been detained in the US for 16 months for violating US sanctions.
He admitted that the US had punished him for helping a research group working on vaccine in Iran by sending materials to the group.
Speaking about the Iran’s efforts in bringing about the swap deal, Taheri said, “The government of Iran has done an extreme effort in order to help people like me who were somehow accused of violating the U.S. sanctions.”
Taheri who arrived Iran Imam Khomeini Airport was welcomed by Hossein Jaberi-Ansari, the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister.
Michael White was released two days after Sirous Asgari, 59, an Iranian professor who was indicted in April 2016, acquitted in 2019 and detained by the United states for stealing trade secrets was deported by the United States.
Asgari tested positive for the Covid-19 in April, and the US had said after he might have received medical clearance that he would be deported. He was returned to Iran last week.
Given the increased enmity between the two nations, the prison swap seems a rare understanding between the US and Iran considering the fact that enmity between them has surged during President Trump’s administration.
President Trump exited Iran’s nuclear power agreement which had been signed with the world powers.
Similarly, several sanctions which have been recently lifted as part of the prisoner-swap deal, were imposed on Iran by the US government under President Trump.
Last year December, the prisoner exchange agreed to by both the US and Iran saw Xiyue Wang, U.S. citizen detained on charges of Spying freed by Iran while Massoud Soleimani, an Iranian citizen charged for violating US sanctions was released by the US.
While speaking about Iran’s readiness to engage in further prisoner exchange with the US, Mousavi said,
“If the possibility of exchanging prisoners exists, we have the readiness to free the rest of the individuals who are imprisoned in America and return them to the country.”
