Daily Times

Iran and the United States could exchange prisoners soon if Washington shows goodwill, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, a day after Iran’s supreme leader signalled the possibility of reaching a nuclear agreement with the West. The statement comes a day after Iran’s Supreme Leader said that reaching a deal with the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program was possible Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, said on Monday that a prisoner exchange could soon happen between Iran and the U.S., if Washington demonstrated “goodwill.”The statement, made during a weekly news conference, comes a day after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei said that reaching a deal with the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program was possible, under the condition that the country’s nuclear infrastructure remained intact. “Regarding the issue of exchanging prisoners with America.. negotiations are ongoing through mediators… if the other party shows the same seriousness and goodwill, this can happen in the near future,” Kanani said.One of the most likely candidates for the potential swap is Siamak Namazi, a businessman with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, who was sentenced, in 2016, to 10 years in prison for alleged spying and cooperating with the U.S. government. Earlier in April, the daughter of another prisoner Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American who has served five years of a 10-year sentence, after being convicted of espionage, said she lost confidence in U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to free her father along with other American detainees held in Iran.