Tehran, SAEDNEWS: In a written response to the questions asked at a weekly presser on Tuesday, Ali Rabiee quashed rumors about a letter to Iran from US President Joe Biden.
“Such report are at the level of media speculation and the official sources would not confirm any such thing,” the Iranian spokesperson added.
On the negotiations about the exchange of 10 Iranian and American prisoners, Rabiee said Tehran has repeatedly expressed readiness for a swap by respecting the dignity of the inmates and their families, even before the Biden administration, but neither the previous nor the current US administration has been ready for an exchange.
“Sadly, it seems that contrary to the agreements that have been made, the US administration has tied the release of prisoners to the JCPOA negotiations for reasons that are unclear and unacceptable to us,” he said, advising Washington to abandon such an unconstructive policy and respect the humanitarian rights of the prisoners beyond political issues.
“Needless to say, the US government is held accountable for any delay in the release of prisoners of the two sides,” Rabiee noted.
In a tweet on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh slammed as outrageous the denial made by the US of an agreement on the exchange of inmates reached in the course of the JCPOA talks in Vienna.
Humanitarian swap was agreed with US & UK in Vienna-separate from JCPOA- on release of 10 prisoners on all sides,” Khatibzadeh said, adding, “Iran is ready to proceed TODAY" (Source: TASNIM).