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RFL/RE – Tehran says it is ready to implement a prisoner swap with the United States and urged President Joe Biden to “act” and “remove obstacles” to making progress on the subject.
Tehran has long sought the return of more than a dozen Iranians currently held in the United States, while Washington has been seeking the release of several Iranian-American dual nationals, including businessman Siamak Namazi, who was arrested in October 2015.
“We are ready to swap prisoners with Washington…. The U.S. must release jailed Iranian citizens without any conditions,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told journalists on August 17.
Kanaani’s comments come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that Namazi had now spent 2,500 days “wrongfully detained” in Iran.
“We are determined to secure his freedom and ensure all Americans who have been wrongfully detained by Iran, including his father, Baquer, can return home,” Blinken wrote.
In response, human rights lawyer Jared Genser shared a letter from Namazi calling on the Biden administration to “match up claims that rescuing us is a priority with effective action.”
Talk of a prisoner swap also comes amid lengthy negotiations between Iran and global powers to revive the 2015 nuclear pact. Former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the deal.
Washington has been participating indirectly in the talks.
