Iran Denies WSJ’s Claim about Request for US Consular Section

Seyyed Abbas Mousavi’s remarks came in reaction to a Sunday report by the Wall Street Journal in which a US official was quoted as saying that “Iran had recently asked for the creation of a consular service through the Swiss, who represent US interests in Tehran.”

The US official claimed “Iran hopes the consular service can be used to facilitate negotiations over prisoner swaps.”

“The Trump administration hasn’t responded to that request, another sign of the deep freeze in ties,” the report claimed.

Mousavi had earlier said some twenty Iranian people are jailed in various countries in the world on the false charge of bypassing the US sanctions, and Iran has proposed a list to the US to have them released.

Addressing a press conference in Tehran on October 21, Mousavi said “some twenty people” are imprisoned over the “baseless” accusations of bypassing the US’ unilateral sanctions on Iran, and the country is pursuing their release.

He announced that the country has sent a list of names it is demanding in a prisoner swap with the United States and other Western nations.

The spokesman said the detainees have been jailed on delusional and illegal charges, and must be released.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had noted that he hopes to hear “good news soon” about the release of Iranian scientist professor Masoud Soleimani, jailed in the US.