"The release of Iranian detainees in the US and some other Western countries has always been on our agenda. [US] State Secretary [Antony Blinken] offered a long time ago to exchange Iranian and US prisoners. [US President Joe] Biden’s government raised the issue when it got into office. The negotiations are currently held," the spokesperson said.
The exchange of prisoners is a sensitive issue in the Iranian-US relationship. Their partial swap took place in 2016, a year after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed, and in 2019.
In early May, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price refuted media reports on new agreements reached by the countries on the prisoners’ exchange.