The Iranian Foreign Ministry responds to the White House’s denial of Hussein Amir Abdollahian’s statements regarding his country’s reaching an agreement with the United States for the exchange of prisoners, and says that the official representative of Washington signed that agreement last March.
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Tehran: It was agreed to exchange prisoners with Washington last March
In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that in March of last year a written agreement was signed with Washington regarding the exchange of prisoners through mediators.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came in response to the statement of the White House, which denied the statement of the Iranian Foreign Minister regarding the prisoner exchange deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced earlier today that his country had reached, during the past few days, an agreement with the United States to exchange prisoners.
He said, “If Washington implements its obligations in the prisoner exchange agreement, we will witness the exchange process within a short period,” stressing “his country’s readiness to conduct a prisoner exchange with Washington,” and called on the latter to take technical steps in this regard.
In its response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The reaction of the American side to the statements of the Foreign Minister in this regard is surprising,” stressing that “the official representative of the United States signed that agreement and for various reasons that Washington has not yet implemented.”
The ministry stated, “During recent weeks, there has been an exchange of indirect messages between Tehran and Washington to update the agreement.”
She also indicated that “from Iran’s point of view, the prisoner exchange is a purely humanitarian issue that should not be used as a basis for political bidding.”
Last month, the American NBC News reported that indirect negotiations were under way between Tehran and Washington. In order to release detainees held by both sides, through “intermediaries” from Qatar and Britain.
The American network said, “Negotiations have made progress, but it remains unclear whether a final agreement will be reached.”
A spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, said a few months ago that his country was in “indirect but active talks” with Tehran to ensure the release of American detainees in Iran.