Washington denies reports Iran to free four Americans in exchange for US$7 billion frozen funds
- The US State Department rejected an Iranian TV report, saying no prisoner swap deal has been reached
- The report also said that British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released once London had paid off a military debt owed to Tehran
Iranian state television said on Sunday that Tehran would free four Americans accused of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the United States and the release of US$7 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
The US State Department immediately denied the report.
“Reports that a prisoner swap deal has been reached are not true,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “As we have said, we always raise the cases of Americans detained or missing in Iran. We will not stop until we are able to reunite them with their families.”
A British Foreign Office official played down that report.
“Informed source says Biden administration has agreed to release four Iranian prisoners jailed for bypassing US sanctions in exchange for four American “spies”,” Iranian state TV said.