NOURNEWS- Some American media circles, such as the New York Times newspaper, announced on Thursday that the US and Iran have reached an agreement according to which, in exchange for the release of several Iranians imprisoned by the US, Iran will also release the convicts of dual Iranian-American citizenship.
In this news, which Iranian and American authorities have confirmed in general, the release of 6 billion dollars from Iran's blocked sources in South Korea, which had been illegally blocked for years, and its transfer to Qatar for Iran's use, is also emphasized.
From the beginning of the publication of this news, the American media and officials tried to present themselves as the superheroes in the subject of humanitarian rights by calling prisoners imprisoned in Iran as hostages, the White House’s officials while highlighting the release of our country's foreign assets that were illegally blocked in South Korea as an exchange for the freed criminals, they tried to showcase the agreed deal as a blackmail strategy in Iran’s part.
This is despite the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran had started indirect negotiations with the US for the release of prisoners from both sides months ago based on a humanitarian approach, but Washington repeatedly sidelined the negotiations with political and opportunistic behavior and created a deadlock in the process of the indirect negotiations.
It is very clear that the release of Iran's foreign exchange resources in South Korea, which was blocked by the unilateral and illegal actions of the US, is an example of rightful vindication and not blackmail.
The party that has always bullied and violated the rights of other countries to force them to accept their illegal demands is the US and not Iran.
Since last night, the American side is trying to use its failure in blackmailing Iran to use this case as a political tool to put pressure against Iran as a humanitarian achievement, by giving upside down narrations and details regarding the process of releasing the prisoners of both sides.
These so-called human rights claims and demonstrations about the exchange of prisoners were adopted by the American authorities while a look at the two-year process of the said case reveals other facts:
First; Iran has always emphasized on the humanitarian approach in the cases of imprisoned nationals of other countries in Iran as well as Iranian nationals in other countries. The recent case can also be defined in the framework of this policy, but the Westerners seek to downplay this fact.
Second; Documents and evidence show that the prisoner exchange case between Iran and America has been going on for two years with its ups and downs.
From the beginning of this process, Tehran announced the separation of this case from the JCPOA negotiations and emphasized that this action is only carried out in a humanitarian based and human rights framework. In contrast, but; In the summer of 2022, when the Americans and their politicized approach made created a deadlock in the negotiations for sanction lifting, they suddenly and contrary to their initial claims that political issues are separate from the issue of prisoner exchange, they disrupted the agreement that had been formed and by focusing on the events of the fall of 2022, they explicitly stated and said that there is no negotiation with Iran and Washington is only focused on Iran's internal issues!
For example; In the winter of 2022, foreign minister of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview with "NPR" that "Prisoner exchange negotiations are underway with third parties that are helping to convey messages", but at the same time, the Americans claimed that there are no ongoing negotiations with Iran.
In 2023, Tehran also accepted indirect negotiations with the American side and welcomed the mediation of Qatar and Oman, and the mediating countries have always emphasized on Iran's interactive approach and praised its humanitarian nature and acknowledged that Tehran has separated the prisoner exchange case from the JCPOA negotiations.
Based on these facts, there is no doubt that the aforementioned negotiations, contrary to Western propaganda, has become very long due to the American political approach and the country's attempt to relate it to unrelated issues.
Now, the agreement reached for the exchange of prisoners should be considered as a positive sign of the change in the behavior of America in this case.
BY: Pooya Mirzaei
NOURNEWS