Iran has said that it is ready to swap prisoners with the United States, adding the West would be to blame if talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal fail as Tehran is ready to reach a good agreement.
“We believe prisoner swaps is a humanitarian issue … unrelated to the nuclear accord. We can do it immediately,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a panel at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
“If the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers fail in Vienna, Western powers will be responsible.”
Abdollahian said his country was “ready to achieve a good deal at the earliest possible time if the other side makes the needed political decision”.
“We are very serious,” he added, speaking through an interpreter.
When asked whether Tehran was ready to hold direct talks with Washington, Amirabdollahian refrained from ruling it out by saying: “We need to see tangible steps of goodwill by Washington such as freeing Iran’s frozen assets abroad.”
Speaking at the same conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said the chances of reviving the Iran nuclear accord are dwindling and the “moment of truth” has arrived for Tehran’s leadership.
“We now have the chance to reach an agreement that will allow sanctions to be lifted. But if we do not succeed very quickly, the negotiations risk failing,” Scholz said.
“The Iranian leadership has a choice. Now is the moment of truth.”
