Iran ready for full prisoner exchange with US, says Foreign Minister Javed Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Javed Zarif, on September 22, said the country was ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States. Addressing a virtual Council on Foreign Relations in New York, the 60-year-old minister also accused Washington of wrongly detaining Iranian citizens. Although, both Iran and the US have been overtly critical of each other, they did hold prison exchange in 2018.

‘Prepared to exchange all of them’

“There are Iranians in the US prison There are Iranians in U.S. prisons who are there only because they refuse to betray their country (Iran). We are prepared to exchange all of them and all those who have been kept in jail. I repeat we can exchange all prisoners. Period." Zarif said.

Washington has long demanded the release of American citizens including Iranian American Father-son duo Baquer and Siamak Namazi,  both of who are labelled as political prisoners by Tehran. However, Tehran has denied the plea saying that all of them were being held for espionage. On the other hand, Tehran has claimed that its citizens in American  jails, mostly detained for breaking sanctions, are unjustly held.

Read: Iran President Rouhani Vows 'crushing Response' To US After Sanction Declaration

Read: Pompeo Says 'maximum Pressure' Campaign To Continue Until Iran Stops 'bloodshed'

'Crushing response to US'

This comes just a day after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the United States “faces defeat” in its unilateral attempt to return sanctions on Iran through snapback mechanism. After European partners of the Iran nuclear deal called the US declaration legally void, Rouhani vowed to “give a crushing response to America's bullying".

The Iran nuclear deal was enshrined in a UNSC resolution which still names the US as a participant and the Trump administration has been arguing on the technicality that Washington could still trigger a snapback. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo announced on September 19 that the 30-day process for the return of all sanctions has ended and all provisions of the UN Security Council resolution are back.

Read: UN Chief: No UN Support For Reimposing Iran Sanctions Now

Read: 'Piranesi': A Tale In Isolation