The total of US citizens detained in Iran has increased to five after the arrest of an American woman of Iranian origins, said Iranian extremist newspaper Khorasan.
The US woman used to work for NGOs in Afghanistan.
The newspaper added that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and US National Security Council official Brett McGurk have held Omani-brokered indirect talks that focused on releasing the fifth US citizen.
It added that the US suspended a deal to release four US nationals in Iran in return for four Iranian prisoners in the US “until the release of the US woman arrested” over spying charges.
Kani paid a visit to Oman last Thursday and held talks with Omani officials. It remained unclear whether he met US officials in Muscat or not.
Muscat hosted rounds of indirect talks between Kani and McGurk, reported Iranian and Western officials in June.
Iranian officials stated that the Omani-brokered dialogue increases the chances of releasing US nationals detained in Tehran in return for releasing some of Iran’s frozen assets in Iraq and South Korea.
“Iran has arrested and detained a fourth US national, further complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to secure an exchange of prisoners and lower tensions with Tehran,” reported the US Semafor news website weeks ago.
The arrest of the American citizen is now “a central part of stepped-up negotiations between the two countries” aimed at swapping prisoners, added the website.
Later, the Iranian Shargh newspaper reported that the fourth US citizen Shahab Dalili is of Iranian origins. He was arrested in March 2016 and sentenced to ten years in prison.
