Tehran – Iran is willing to hold unconditional negotiations with the United States over a prisoner swap, due to fears that inmates will contract the coronavirus, local press reported Sunday.
There is “the will to negotiate on all the prisoners,” cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei announced according to the Khabaronline.ir news website.
“But the United States has so far refused to give us an answer,” added Rabiei.
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“We hope that because the COVID-19 disease outbreak puts the lives of Iranian citizens in American prisons at risk, the US government will put human lives above political issues,” he said.
He claimed that Iran holds the US government responsible for the physical integrity of Iranian prisoners and “there appears to be a greater willingness on the US side to end this situation.”
Rabiei did not elaborate, but the Iranian press in recent months has reported that several Iranians are being held in US jails, including Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor.
