Iranian official says Tehran will drop plans to exchange prisoners with the US – report

DUBAI, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Iran is dropping plans to exchange prisoners with the United States for “violating” Washington’s efforts to free the prisoners, an unnamed Iranian official told semi-official Nour News on Tuesday.

Tehran and the government of President Joe Biden have communicated on a prisoner exchange aimed at securing the release of Iranians detained in US prisons and other countries for violating US sanctions, as well as Americans detained in Iran.

“With the ongoing violations by the Biden government, there is no incentive on the part of Iran to continue this process and therefore the stock market problem in its current form will be completely removed from its agenda,” the official told Nour News, which shortly before Iran’s top national Security body.

Last month, Iran said a prisoner exchange deal had been struck, despite Washington denying it. Continue reading

Iran has arrested dozens of dual citizens in recent years, including several Iranian-Americans, mainly on espionage charges.

Human rights activists accuse the country of trying to use the detentions to obtain concessions from other countries, despite Tehran rejecting the charges.

Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday he would take steps to lift US-imposed “tyrannical” sanctions after receiving formal approval from the country’s top leader to take office later this week. Continue reading

Reporting from Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Angus MacSwan

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