Iran Says Prisoner Exchange Process with US Will Take Up to Two Months

Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. (Reuters)
Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. (Reuters)
TT

Iran Says Prisoner Exchange Process with US Will Take Up to Two Months

Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. (Reuters)
Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. (Reuters)

The process of releasing US prisoners held in Iran will take up to two months, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday during a press conference. 

"A specific time frame has been announced by relevant authorities, and it will take a maximum of two months for this process to take place," Kanaani said. 

Earlier this month, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement whereby five US citizens held in Iran would be freed while $6 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea would be released. 

South Korean media reported on Monday that the assets have been transferred to Switzerland's central bank last week for exchange and transfer to Iran. 

The Swiss National Bank plans to exchange the $6 billion holdings in won for dollars and then euros in the currency market, converting about 300 billion won ($223.85 million) to 400 billion each day for next five weeks, Yonhap Infomax reported, citing an unnamed currency market source.  

An official at South Korea's finance ministry declined to confirm the report, citing the legal and diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.  

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said last week that the released assets would be used to enhance domestic production. 



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
TT

Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.