Rare progress seen in setting prisoners free

WASHINGTON－US President Donald Trump voiced hope for progress in relations with arch-rival Iran on Thursday after Teheran released a US Navy veteran and the United States freed two Iranians.

But both sides denied the releases were a swap.

Michael White, who had contracted the coronavirus while in Iran, flew out on a Swiss military jet to Zurich, where he was welcomed by a senior US official.

"I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home," his mother Joanne White said in a statement.

Trump said he spoke to White by telephone and voiced rare appreciation to Iran, with which the United States was close to all-out war several months ago. "Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!," he said on Twitter.

As White was flying home, a US federal judge issued an order to free an Iranian-American doctor, Majid Taheri, allowing him to go see his family in Iran.

A day earlier, a more prominent Iranian－Cyrus Asgari, a scientist arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit－returned to Iran.

"This can happen for all prisoners. No need for cherry picking," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.

"Iranian hostages held in－and on behalf of－the US should come home," he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has championed a hawkish line against Teheran, said Iranian authorities had been "constructive" on freeing White but urged the release of three other US citizens, all of Iranian descent, who remain detained.

White, who had served 13 years in the US Navy, was arrested in July 2018 in the city of Mashhad after visiting a woman whom he had reportedly met online.

He was sentenced the following year to at least 10 years in prison on charges that he insulted Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on social media.

In March, as Iran was being hit hard by the coronavirus, White was handed over to the custody of Switzerland, which handles US interests in the country in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Asgari, a scientist at Teheran's Sharif University of Technology, had been detained four years ago on an academic visit to Ohio and was accused of stealing trade secrets.

Asgari was accused of violating US sanctions by sending a technical item to Iran. He was acquitted last year but handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Denying a connection with White, senior US immigration official Ken Cuccinelli alleged that the Iranians had held up his release, tweeting: "A swap can't exactly work when we want Asgari less than the Iranians do."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also denied that Asgari was released as part of a prisoner swap.

Soaring tensions

Tensions have soared in recent months as Trump pursued a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, imposing sweeping sanctions.

Observers have seen prisoner releases as a rare way of starting dialogue between the two countries, although few expect any serious headway before the US election in November.

White's mother thanked both the US and Swiss governments for the release as well as Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador and governor from the Democratic Party.

Richardson, whose efforts have been resented by the Trump administration, said he met senior Iranian officials, including Zarif, to arrange White's release.

Richardson in a statement said that his approach relies on "personal relations and respect".

"The negotiations were complicated, especially given the high tensions and exchange of violence between the US and Iran in recent months," said Richardson, who added that Qatar－a US ally that maintains stable relations with Iran－also provided assistance.

Agencies - Xinhua