Tehran: According to a representative for the Iranian government, Tehran is willing to do an exchange of prisoners with the US government, without any stipulations due to the coronavirus outbreak scares.
“We are prepared to discuss this issue without any preconditions but the Americans have not responded yet,” Ali Rabiei was quoted saying by the Khabar Online news website on Sunday. “We hope that as the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease threatens the lives of Iranian citizens in the US prisons, the US government eventually will prefer lives to politics.”
Rabiei further said, “Tehran considers Washington responsible for the health of the Iranian prisoners. It seems that the US has more readiness to bring the situation to an end.” He did not mention the figure of the imprisoned Iranians in US but Iranian media has elicited several being in US custody which includes Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor.
US officials have told last week that they were advancing towards the safe release of Michael White who is a detained Navy veteran in Iran and avoiding any suggestions of an exchange with Iran.
In a rare act of cooperation, the two countries had earlier swapped prisoners in December, 2019- US graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained for three years on spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani, charged of violating sanctions. The exchange was eased by the Swiss government.
“There is no need for a third country to mediate between Iran and America for the prisoner exchange,” Rabiei said on Sunday, according to Khabar Online.
US-Iran tensions have shoot up since 2018 when US President Donald Trump exited a nuclear treaty negotiated between Tehran and the world powers. After this, Washington has upped its economic sanctions, forcing Iran under pressure to talk about a new agreement which includes the country’s missile program.
The punishing financial measures have crippled Iran’s economy, triggering nationwide protests in November last year, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ruled out new talks with Washington until Trump lifts the sanctions, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
The coronavirus pandemic has shown its most affects in US. One immigrant held in custody died last week here. Iran suffered the worst attack of the infection in the Middle East. It has temporarily released over 85000 prisoners as an emergency need.
