“The issue of detainees has always been raised by both Iran and the US, as Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif has voiced readiness to exchange prisoners,” Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Friday.
He made the comments following the release of an Iranian woman who had spent 27 months in prisons of Australia and the US.
Iranian national Negar Ghods-Kani was arrested in Australia on behalf of the US authorities in 2017 over what Washington claimed was flouting US sanctions on Iran by purchasing US electronics components and products.
She was then extradited to the US to 27 months of time served for the alleged violation of US sanctions.
Mousavi told reporters that Ghods-Kani was arrested some three years ago in Australia "at US officials' request based on unfounded accusations and was kept in extremely difficult and inhumane conditions."
He added that during her detention, consular support for "this innocent Iranian citizen" had been on the agenda of Iran's embassy in Australia and the Foreign Ministry.
Mousavi added that Iran had protested Ghods-Kani's extradition to the US which was carried out in violation of regulations and her rights.
He noted that Iran's Foreign Ministry attaches great importance to the restoration of rights of all Iranian citizens "cruelly prosecuted by the US judicial system under the pretext of violating US sanctions against Iran."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday reiterated Tehran's preparedness for a prisoner swap with the United States, saying, "We have talked and negotiated several times with American officials in the past for the release of the two sides' prisoners and sometimes we have been successful."
However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined on Thursday to discuss the possibility of a US-Iranian prisoner swap.
MNA/IRN83493264
Your Comment