CNN
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Biden administration officers on Sunday sharply denied Iranian claims {that a} prisoner swap deal had been reached.
“Statements from Iranian officers {that a} deal concerning the change of prisoners has been reached are one other particularly merciless lie that solely provides to the struggling of their households,” State Division spokesperson Ned Worth advised CNN.
There are three Americans at present imprisoned in Iran: Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz. All of them have been designated as wrongfully detained by the US.
Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had claimed earlier {that a} prisoner change settlement had been reached between his nation and the US.
“Concerning the change of prisoners between Iran and america, we’ve got reached an settlement in latest days and if all the things goes properly on the American facet, then I feel we’ll see the change of prisoners quickly,” Amir-Abdollahian advised state media in an on-camera interview Sunday.
“We take into account this a very humanitarian case,” he stated.
However the US State Division stated such an settlement had not been struck.
“We’re working relentlessly to safe the discharge of the three wrongfully detained People in Iran. We is not going to cease till they’re reunited with their family members,” Worth stated.
A White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson additionally stated that “claims by Iranian officers that we’ve got reached a deal for the discharge of the U.S. residents wrongfully held by Iran are false.”
“Sadly, Iranian officers is not going to hesitate to make issues up, and the most recent merciless declare will trigger extra heartache for the households of Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz,” the NSC spokesperson stated.
“We stay dedicated to securing the liberty of Siamak, Emad, and Morad, however we’ve got nothing to announce at the moment,” the spokesperson added.
The US and different Western nations repeatedly accuse Tehran of holding twin nationals as political pawns in negotiations with the West.
Final March, British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was launched after six years of detention in Iran. Her launch got here because the UK settled a decades-old £400 million debt owed to Iran — Tehran has denied it was linked to the prisoner launch.
