Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Instagram page that Asgari is now free.
The top Iranian diplomat said the Iranian scientist has been acquitted of the baseless charges levelled against him.
“We were making every effort to set the stage for his return home,” said Zarif.
“If he tests negative for coronavirus, he can return to Iran on the first flight,”
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The foreign minister said Asgari will return to the country if he tests negative for coronavirus.
Asgari, a professor of material sciences at Sharif University of Technology, was arrested in the United States in the mid-2017. Back then, the FBI alleged the scientist had shared information about a project he had conducted on a sabbatical in the US five years before with his students.
US legal authorities then charged him with withholding information in the process of visa application, circumventing the sanctions, and transferring technology to Iran.
Asgari had repeatedly pleaded for his release since March, complaining about unsanitary detention conditions and overcrowding at the Louisiana facility, where he was kept.
