SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 29 March 2024, Friday |

Washington denies Iran state media report saying prisoner exchange agreed

The United States on Sunday denied a report by Iran’s state television that the arch-foes had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion frozen Iranian oil funds under U.S. sanctions in other countries.

Iranian state television said at a previous time on Sunday that Tehran would free four Americans indicted of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the United States and the release of $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds.

State TV, quoting an Iranian official, also said that British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released once Britain had paid off a military debt owed to Tehran.

The White House and U.S. State Department had no immediate comment. The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Informed source says Biden administration has agreed to release four Iranian prisoners jailed for bypassing U.S. sanctions in exchange for four American “spies”,” Iranian state TV said.

“Release of Nazanin Zaghari in exchange for UK’s payment of its 400 million pound debt to Iran has also been finalized. The source also said the Biden administration has agreed to pay Iran $7 billion,” it said.

Iran and world powers are holding talks to revive the 2015 nuclear accord that Washington abandoned three years ago.

Iranian officials told Reuters last month that an interim deal could be a way to gain time for a lasting settlement that involved unfreezing Iranian funds blocked under U.S. sanctions.

Tehran and the powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April to work on steps that must be taken, touching on U.S. sanctions and Iran’s alleged breaches of the 2015 deal, to bring Tehran and Washington back into full compliance with the accord.

Iran says $20 billion of its oil revenue has been frozen in countries like South Korea, Iraq and China under the U.S. sanctions regime since 2018.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, said no deal had been reached with Iran in the Vienna talks.

“There is still a fair distance to travel to close the remaining gaps. And those gaps are over what sanctions the United States and other countries will roll back. They are over what nuclear restrictions Iran will accept on its program to ensure that they can never get a nuclear weapon.”

    Source:
  • Reuters