Iran, US could complete prisoner swap soon: report

According to a report by VOA, the United States and Iran could soon carry out a prisoner swap agreement that includes five Americans detained in Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told VOA last week that the Biden administration hoped the transfer would happen “in the coming days.”

The US hopes that with the transfer of blocked Iranian funds from banks in South Korea to Qatar completed, the five Iranian Americans held in the Islamic Republic will be home in the coming days, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications said.

Earlier, Bloomberg quoted the people, who asked not to be identified, as saying that the exact date of the swap isn’t yet set but it’s likely to be on Sept. 18, a day before world leaders convene in New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

Three of the Americans in the swap have been publicly identified: Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, the VOA report added, saying that they along with one of the unnamed Americans were moved from Tehran’s Evin prison to house arrest, while an American woman also set to be a part of the deal was already under house arrest.

Iran’s UN mission in New York also confirmed to VOA the Iranian list includes Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, Mehrdad Ansari, Amin Hasanzadeh, Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani and Kambiz Attar Kashani.

Ansari and Kashani are serving federal prison sentences, while Afrasiabi, Hasanzadeh and Kafrani are on supervised pre-trial release.

The agreement also included the United States allowing certain Iranian funds frozen under US sanctions to be transferred from accounts in South Korea to accounts in Qatar.

The funds being released to six bank accounts in Qatar had remained inaccessible in South Korea for nearly five years because of US sanctions and Iran has won their release under a prisoner exchange deal with the US.