Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said in a statement on Thursday night that the US has released the Iranian physician Majid Taheri after spending over a year in jail on false charges.

Taheri said to be a longtime resident of Florida, spent 16 months in prison for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.

Mousavi also said that US citizen Michael White, who had been sentenced to prison in Iran for “security crimes” and in a lawsuit brought by “private plaintiffs”, was released after satisfying the plaintiffs in respect to the cause of action while being granted “Islamic mercy for his other crimes.”

“He was released from jail given the time served and in respect of human rights considerations, and left Iran on Thursday,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry official added.

Mousavi said the US Navy veteran, who had been detained in 2018, was on medical furlough in the Swiss Embassy before being allowed to leave Iran.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani twitted on Friday that the exchange of prisoners has not been the result of negotiations, and no negotiations will take place in the future.

Trump tweets, Iran responds 

US President Donald Trump in a Twitter message thanked Iran for the release of the American citizen, noting, “It shows a deal is possible!” Trump was referring to his offer for negotiating a new deal with Iran following the US pullout from the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday reacted to the Trump’s message, saying, “We had a deal when you entered office. Iran & other JCPOA participants never left the table”.

“We achieved humanitarian swap *despite* your subordinates’ efforts, @realDonaldTrump”, Zarif tweeted.

“Your advisors—most fired by now—made a dumb bet. Up to you to decide *when* you want to fix it”, the Iranian foreign minister added.

The two nations are at odds on a host of issues including the US decision to abandon the nuclear deal and impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

Switzerland role

The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed it played a role in what it called “the humanitarian gesture” on White and Taheri and said it “stands ready” to help further.

The negotiations to get White released followed several months of discussions with Iran, said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Taheri’s lawyer said on Thursday Taheri would visit family in Iran and seek medical treatment before returning to the United States.

US-Iranian relations have been bitter since the Islamic Revolution toppled the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979.

Tensions flared after Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, and worsened after a Jan. 3 US drone strike in Iraq which assassinated Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force.

Both nations have called for the release of prisoners due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in West Asia, while the United States has reported the world’s highest number of deaths and infections.

The exchange of prisoners came days after Iranian scientist Sirous Asgari, a professor of material sciences at Iran’s Sharif University of Technology, returned home after spending about three years in detention in the US.

Last December, Iran freed US citizen Xiyue Wang, who had been held for three years on spying charges, and the US released Iranian stem cell scientist Massoud Soleimani.

Soleimani was on a sabbatical when he was arrested by US authorities upon arrival in Chicago a year ago and transferred to a prison in Atlanta, Georgia, on charges of violating US sanctions on Iran.

 

Reuters and Press TV contributed to this story.

The Taliban made the three-day truce offer to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday that started Sunday – a move swiftly welcomed by the government, which reciprocated by announcing plans to free insurgent prisoners, AFP wrote.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government was also ready to hold peace talks with the Taliban, seen as key to ending a nearly two-decade-long war in the country.

“The cease-fire is holding. There have been no reports of any violation so far,” National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal said.

“We hope this will eventually lead to a lasting peace that the people of Afghanistan so much desire and deserve.”

Faisal said the authorities plan to release the insurgents in batches of 100 daily.

“The release process will continue with 100 prisoners each day until the 2,000 count is reached,” Faisal said.

In the northern city of Kunduz, attacked just days ago by the Taliban, calm prevailed as residents celebrated Eid.

“Just two days ago panic had set in the city,” said Atiqullah, a shopkeeper from Kunduz.

“Today, you go out and feel as if there is no more fighting. People are actually celebrating Eid.”

The normally restive southern province of Uruzgan was also calm, police said.

“There was non-stop fighting every single day, but since the cease-fire was announced not a single shot has been fired,” said Haji Lal Agha, the provincial police chief.

“It is especially good for the residents of Trinkot who would hear the sound of gunfire every day,” he added, referring to the provincial capital.

There were no reports of fighting from Kandahar, once a bastion for the Taliban, and the southeast province of Khost was also peaceful, police said.

Violence had escalated since the Taliban signed a deal with Washington in February to withdraw all US forces from the country by early next year.

The agreement also set the stage for intra-Afghan peace talks and stipulated that the government would first release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the militants would free about 1,000 national security.

Before Sunday’s announcement to free up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners as a “goodwill gesture”, Kabul had already released about 1,000 Taliban inmates while the insurgents had let go roughly 300 Afghan security forces members.

The Taliban insists that Kabul must release 5,000 of its members as agreed in the deal with the US.

“This process should be completed in order to remove hurdles in the way of commencement of intra-Afghan negotiations,” a Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter.

Since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 there has only been one other cease-fire – a three-day pause between the Taliban and Kabul, also marking Eid, in 2018.

That cease-fire was initiated by Ghani.