DUBAI: Iran is optimistic a prisoner swap with Washington will happen “in the near future,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, adding that Tehran’s frozen $6 billion assets in South Korea will be unblocked in the coming days.
However, Nasser Kanaani said the two issues were not linked to one another.
Sources told Reuters last week that transfer of Iranian funds to banks in Qatar as early as this week will trigger a carefully choreographed sequence that will see as many as five detained US dual nationals leave Iran and a similar number of Iranian prisoners held in the US fly home.
As a first step, Iran on Aug. 10 released four US citizens from Tehran’s Evin prison into house arrest, where they joined a fifth, who was already under house arrest. Later that day US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the move the first step of a process that would lead to their return home.
Iran optimistic prisoner swap with US will happen in ‘near future’
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Iran optimistic prisoner swap with US will happen in ‘near future’
- Iran on Aug. 10 released four US citizens from Tehran’s Evin prison into house arrest
- Later that day US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the move the first step of a process that would lead to their return home
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
