From a prison in Iran, Siamak Namazi, 51, is pleading with President Biden to bring him home. But first, Washington and Tehran must untangle the billions of frozen Iranian oil.
On Sunday, Iran claimed to have reached an agreement with the United States on a prisoner exchange deal.
– Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told Iranian state television that if things go well on the American side, I think we will witness an exchange of prisoners within a short period.
On the same day, the Biden administration denies that this is the case.
“The statements by the Iranian authorities that an agreement has been reached on a prisoner exchange agreement is another particularly insidious lie that only increases the suffering of their families,” said Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department.
A US National Security Council official also denied Iran’s allegations, adding that US authorities will continue to work for the release of Siamak, Imad and Murad.
The case has been discussed by many international media, such as BBCAnd CNN And Reuters.
These three American citizens are imprisoned in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran Known for housing political prisoners.
Prayer to Biden: – Drive us home
The person who has been in Iran’s custody the longest is Siamak Namazi (51).
In 2015, he was arrested during a business trip to Iran, and charged with “alliance with an enemy country,” referring to the United States.
United nations Namazi’s imprisonment has been described as an “arbitrary deprivation of liberty”.
In January, Namazi went on a seven-day hunger strike, writing an open letter to Joe Biden asking the president to commit to bringing them home.
“I implore you, sir, to put the life and freedom of innocent Americans above all politics involved and do only what is necessary to end this nightmare and bring us home,” Namazi wrote. CNN.
The other two are:
- Emad Sharqi – An Iranian-American businessman who was arrested in 2018 on charges of espionage.
- Morad Tahbaz – Iranian-American businessman and environmental expert. He was arrested in 2018 and accused of belonging to a “hostile force”. He also holds British citizenship. He stayed last summer Modal with anklets.
In an interview with the channel last Thursday, Namazi accused former President Barack Obama of leaving him behind in 2016.
Then Iran released four American prisoners in connection with the nuclear deal, but Namazi was not among them.
Billions of frozen oil should be centralized
A source close to the negotiations between Tehran and Washington says Reuters That the prisoner exchange is “closer than it has ever been”.
One remaining dispute is said to be the more than $7 billion in Iranian oil capital that has been frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions.
– The source, who spoke anonymously to the news agency because of the ongoing negotiations, said that the logistical issues related to how to transfer these values and how to implement the review have not been resolved.
According to the source, Qatar and Switzerland will participate in the talks. Iranian authorities confirmed to Reuters the participation of two regional countries in the talks.
Iranian authorities have been trying for years to release more than a dozen Iranians in the United States, including seven Iranian-Americans with dual citizenship, two Iranians with permanent residency in the United States, and four Iranian citizens who do not have legal residency in the United States, according to The Guardian. . to Reuters.
The level of tension between the United States and Iran has risen since Donald Trump scrapped the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that hit the country hard.
Experts noted that a successful prisoner exchange could help lay the groundwork for resuming talks on the nuclear deal, he said financial times.
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