Iran, US Deny Reaching Deal on Prisoner Swap, Release of Iranian Assets

Iran and the United States have separately denied the media reports about an agreement to release four Iranian prisoners accused of bypassing Washington's sanctions in exchange for Iran's release of four US "spies".

Speaking to Al Mayadeen TV, an informed source had claimed that in addition to the prisoner swap deal, the US has also agreed to release $7 billion in Iranian frozen assets.

It was claimed that Iran will also release Iranian-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in exchange for the United Kingdom’s payment of its 400-million-pound debt.

However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said while the issue of prisoners has always been on Iran’s agenda, the Sunday report by Al-Mayadeen news network is untrue.

“The issue of prisoners has been a humanitarian issue which has always been on the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran and has been pursued through other conversations and [diplomatic] channels separately from the JCPOA or related issues,” Khatibzadeh said.

Khatibzadeh also denied reports that Tehran and London had been in talks over the release of Zaghari, the Iranian-British national who was found guilty of propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic last month and sentenced to one year in prison, shortly after serving her five-year sentence for alleged espionage.

Earlier, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price had also denied any prisoner swap deal with Tehran.

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