At least three Iranian-Americans are being held in Iran, including businessman Siamak Namazi.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published on 03/12/2023 at 15:52
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Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian gives a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Damascus on March 9, 2023. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Iran said on Sunday, March 12, that it was “ready” to conduct a prisoner exchange with the United States, which could happen quickly if Washington so desires.
“In the past few days, we have agreed on a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States. If everything goes well on the American side, I think we can participate in the near future,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a TV interview. “Everything is ready for us. The American side is working on the final technical preparations,” he added.
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At least three Iranian-Americans are being held in Iran, including businessman Siamak Namazi, who gave an unpublished interview to CNN from his cell in Tehran’s Evin prison. For its part, the Iranian judiciary reported in August the detention of “dozens” of Iranian nationals in the United States, including Reza Sarhangpour and Kambiz Attar Kashani, accused of diverting “American sanctions” against Tehran.
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Since the two countries have no diplomatic ties, an exchange agreement was “signed and indirectly approved” between the Iranians and the Americans in March 2022, Amir-Abdollahian said, calling it “purely humanitarian in nature.” In the CNN interview that aired March 9, Siamak Namazi urged President Joe Biden to “put the freedom of innocent Americans ahead of politics” by promoting their release. The businessman was arrested in October 2015 and sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage. Sentenced to the same sentence, his father Mohammad Baquer Namazi, 85, was released from prison in 2020 and was able to leave Iran in October 2022.
Other detainees include Iranian-American investor Emad Sharqi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, according to Iranian media, and Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American national also with British nationality, who was arrested in January 2018 and sentenced to 10 for “conspiracy”. years in prison with America”. At least 16 Western passport holders, including six French nationals, are being held in Iran. Tehran refuses to recognize dual citizenship and in January announced the execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari, who was accused of spying for the UK, which he has always denied.