Iran claims to be open to conducting more prisoner exchanges with US

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on June 7 in a statement said to local media said that his country would be willing to take part in more prisoner exchanges with the United States. According to reports, Mousavi was referring to the recent release of Michael White which occurred just days after the release of Sirous Asgari, an Iranian professor from the US.

Navy Veteran returns home

Michael White, a US Navy veteran who had been detained in Iran for two years was finally allowed to fly out of the country on June 4. According to reports, the release of the Navy veteran comes just a day after an Iranian scientist, held by the US authorities, returned home. In a statement released by the Navy veteran Michael White’s mother Joanne White, she said that finally the nightmare they were living for the last two years was over and her son was on his way back home.

As per reports, former US ambassador Bill Richardson, who negotiated with Iranian officials for the veteran’s release, said that while in Iran, White had tested positive for COVID-19 and had received treatment in Iran itself.

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Taking to Twitter, US President Donald Trump said that White was returning in a plane provided by Switzerland and at the time of the tweet White’s plane had left Iranian airspace. Trump also added that he would continue working for the safety and quick release of all Americans held overseas.

White had served in the US Navy for 13 years and was visiting a woman in 2018 in Iran's north-eastern city of Mashhad whom he had met on social media. It was at this time when White was arrested by the Iranian authorities on charges of insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and allegedly posting anti-regime remarks on social media under a pseudonym.

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