The United States and Iran are planning to exchange prisoners as early as next Monday under a deal that is considered as a first step toward new talks to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program.
The specific date of the exchange isn’t yet determined, but it’s most likely to take place on September 18, a day before world leaders gather in New York City for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, according to persons familiar with the situation who requested not to be named.
The White House on Monday lifted sanctions to permit the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian money – to be converted into euros – from South Korea to Qatar, a move required to carry out a previously planned U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange.
“This it not a payment of any kind. It’s not a ransom. These aren’t U.S. taxpayer dollars. We haven’t lifted a single one of our sanctions on Iran,” John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters, as he defended the prisoner swap from Republican criticism.
Iranian authorities have also stated that five Iranian citizens who have been jailed in the US will be exchanged for five Americans who are being held in the Middle Eastern country. Three of the latter have been named by the State Department as Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharqi, and Morad Tahbaz.
“Can you believe that Crooked Joe Biden is giving $6 Billion to the terrorist regime in Iran? That money be used for terrorism all over the Middle East, and, indeed, the World,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. However, according to a 2019 story by The Washington Post, the former president reportedly authorized payment of a $2 million bill submitted by North Korea to reimburse its care of comatose American college student Otto Warmbier, who passed very soon after being released home following 17 months in a North Korean jail.
