SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday Tehran was ready to swap prisoners with the United States.
“We believe prisoner swaps is a humanitarian issue … unrelated to the nuclear accord. We can do it immediately,” Hossein Amirabdollahian told a panel at the Munich Security Conference, according to Reuters.
Iran has arrested dozens of dual nationals, including several Iranian-Americans, in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.
Rights activists accuse the country of trying to use the detentions to win concessions from other countries, though Tehran dismisses the charge.
Amirabdollahian also said the West would be to blame if talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal fail as Tehran is ready to reach a good agreement.
“If the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers fail in Vienna, Western powers will be responsible for it because we want a good deal,” he said, Reuters reported.
When asked whether Tehran was ready to hold direct talks with Washington, Amirabdollahian refrained from ruling it out by saying: “We need to see tangible steps of goodwill by Washington such as freeing Iran’s frozen assets abroad”.
