US, Iran in ‘indirect’ prisoner exchange talks

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Indirect prisoner exchange talks are being held between Tehran and Washington, the US State Department said on Tuesday, with both countries saying their priority is bringing their nationals home.

“It is indirect but active discussions taking place on this – to this end, seeing the release of the Americans who have been unjustly detained, deprived of their freedom for far too long now,” spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday when asked about the prisoner exchange process.

“Our priority is bringing these individuals home as possible and resolving the cases of missing and abducted U.S. citizens just as quickly as we can,” he added, saying the topic of detainees is being treated separately from the nuclear deal. 

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said that “negotiations are underway.”

“The release of Iranian prisoners in the US and some other Western states who have been held hostage under baseless reasons has always been on the agenda as a top priority,” said Khatibzadeh, who added the issue had been raised after US President Joe Biden took office in January.

“We’re also working with our allies, many of whom also have citizens currently arbitrarily or wrongfully detained by the Iranian Government,” said Price. 

Arrests of foreigners in Iran - especially dual nationals who are often accused of espionage - have multiplied since former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and re-imposed harsh sanctions against Tehran.

Dual nationals from various countries have been detained in Iran, in what campaigners and the British government says is a policy of hostage-taking aimed at pressuring the West. Iran has conducted several exchanges of foreign prisoners, including researchers, with countries holding Iranian nationals.

A detained US Navy veteran returned home in June on the same day an Iranian doctor returned from the US.

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was freed in November after several years of imprisonment on espionage charges.
 
According to the US Institute of Peace, 13 Iranians are held in US prisons as of July 10, and six US-Iranian nationals are held in Iran on espionage charges.  Eight other prisoners detained in the past have so far been released by Iran, and two Iranians have been released by the US.