Soleimani vs Xiyue Wang: We won It

On Saturday night when I was watching news channels on IRIB, I found out that Iranian scientist and Professor Dr. Masoud Soleimani , in a prisoner swap with American Xiyue Wang, was released. Wang had been charged with espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison. These two prisoners were exchanged in Zurich, Switzerland and were delivered to officials of their countries..

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

At the time of Wang’s arrest, the then Judiciary spokesman in a press conference claimed that one of the U.S.’s dual citizen who had entered in Iran with certain infiltration and been directed by the Americans, had been identified and arrested. He also said that the American infiltrator was sentenced to prison.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday and in a statement announced that Iranian scientist and professor Soleimani, after one year of illegal arrest, was released and handed over to Iranian officials in Zurich.

Dr. Soleimani, a distinguished professor at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran and hematology and stem cell researcher, was detained by the FBI on 7 October 2018 in Chicago despite having a valid one-year visa on charge charges of violating American trade sanctions against Iran.

Some Donald Trump government officials pointed to the recent riots in Iran and claimed that Iran’s regime likely decided to release Wang in order to improve its image in the international scene.

On Saturday the White House confirmed the prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S. This confirmation came after the U.S. President Trump issuing a statement and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted photos of himself accompanying Mr. Soleimani on Twitter.

The U.S. newspaper New York Times without revealing the names of American officials announced that Wang was flown in a Swiss government airplane from Tehran to Zurich. These senior American officials, speaking only on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate nature of the exchange, said they saw no indication that the exchange portended a larger dialogue with Iran. The daily did not consider the prisoner swap as a sign for more talks between Tehran and Washington.

New York Times quoted two senior United States officials as saying that Wang was flown in Zurich by a Swiss government plane where he met by Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s special representative for Iran.

The daily claimed it was Mr. Hook, working through Swiss intermediaries who often serve as a diplomatic channel between Washington and Tehran, who negotiated the prisoner exchange.

According to the daily, Hook has had no direct contact with Iranian officials since a March 2018 meeting in Vienna shortly before Mr. Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement.

In the past ten years, Iranian officials have had meetings with the U.S. officials which were  confined to only some certain issues and they were not  allowed to move ahead more than their defined missions. That we exchange a spy, convicted to 10 years of prison, with a scientist indicates that the winner card is still in the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that every two months Mr. Trump thinks of his halcyon days and speaks of talks without preconditions is not either unreasonable and it itself indicates that in order to win, Mr. Trump will not be satisfied with these capacities and the Almighty wants Iranian to see Mr. Trump being humiliated.

 By: Hamid Reza Naghashian