Uncertainty surrounds prisoner exchange agreement between Iran, US

What is the truth behind the prisoner exchange agreement between Iran and the US amidst the Iranian announcement and US denial?

According to a Western diplomat in Tehran, the prisoner exchange agreement has gained new momentum. The delay in reaching a final agreement is the difference in views between Tehran and Washington regarding the release of frozen funds. 

The Financial Times has revealed that President Joe Biden may face severe criticism from within the United States and from Israel if he decides to release the ten billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets.

Therefore, one of the available options is to transfer the funds to an account managed by Qatar for use only in purchasing goods not listed on the Iranian sanctions list, such as medicine and food.

On the other hand, the Financial Times did not obtain information about Iran's demand to release Iranian prisoners in the United States as part of the agreement. Tehran has been seeking the release of more than 12 Iranians held in the United States for years.

Given the disparity between the parties, the ambiguity of the terms, and counter-conditions, a new Iranian statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani confirmed a preliminary agreement between the two sides on this issue.

"We have already reached an agreement on some issues, including the issue of the prisoners' exchange. We reached a written agreement in March of last year, and the official representative of the US government signed it. The American side agreed at some point that this agreement would be implemented without linking it to the negotiations related to lifting the sanctions. Still, they linked it to the nuclear negotiations in another stage," Kanaani said.

Although prisoner exchange deals are cautiously executed due to their scarcity, they are often linked to the course of events.