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Iran and the United States have carried out a prisoner exchange, a rare event between the two countries, while Washington is stepping up the pressure and economic sanctions against Iran every day.
It is in the utmost secrecy that negotiations were held to allow the release of Iranian university professor Massoud Soleimani, detained in the United States, and of Sino-US student Xiyue Wang, detained in Iran. .
Massoud Soleilmani, a stem cell expert, was arrested at the Chicago airport in October 2018. He was accused of exporting biological material to Iran, violating US sanctions on Tehran's nuclear program. A PhD student at Princeton University, Xiyue Wang was arrested in 2016 in Iran while researching his thesis. In 2017, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for spying.
Liberation welcomed by both countries
US President Donald Trump hailed the release of Xiyue Wang and thanked the Swiss government, which represents US interests in Iran, for its help, but also Iran for a " very fair negotiation ". " The release of detained Americans is of vital importance to my administration and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully detained abroad, " the US president said in a statement. communicated.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, for his part, said on Twitter that he was happy that Massoud Soleilmani and Xiyue Wang could join their families, while also thanking the Swiss government.
Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Wang Xiyue will be joining their families shortly. Many thanks to the engaged, particularly the Swiss government. pic.twitter.com/1TeZUL0CDG
Javad Zarif (@JZarif) December 7, 2019Tense relations
The two countries broke off their diplomatic ties almost 40 years ago, and relations have been escalating since the United States left the nuclear deal with the great powers in 2018, said Tehran correspondent Siavosh Ghazi. .
Two months ago, Iran and Australia had an exchange of prisoners under almost identical conditions. Arrests of foreigners or binationals often accused of spying have multiplied in just over a year since the withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and the reinstatement of tough US sanctions against Tehran.
Among the imprisoned are Americans, Iranian-Americans, Irano-British, including Nazanin Zagheri, or the French researcher Roland Marchal and his Franco-Iranian colleague Fariba Adelkhah , arrested last June. On the American side, dozens of Iranians are still locked up in jail.
The exchange of prisoners between Tehran and Washington should not allow normalization of relations between the two countries. Indeed, the United States continues to increase the economic sanctions against Tehran, which regularly denounces the economic war waged by Washington.