Intel: Trump’s Iran policy coordinator previews additional prisoner talks

President Donald Trump’s Iran policy coordinator hinted today at ongoing negotiations with Tehran to secure the release of additional American prisoners following the release of Navy veteran Michael White last week.

“I’ve been negotiating with the Iranians for the last few months through the Swiss,” said Brian Hook, Trump’s special envoy for Iran, during a virtual interview with the conservative Heritage Foundation. “I’m working on getting the Namazis, Morad Tahbaz and the remains of Bob Levinson back to the United States, so that’s sort of the next focus.”

Why it matters:  Both the United States and Iran deny that White’s release was the result of a prisoner swap, even though Tehran repatriated the Navy veteran following Washington’s return of Iranian prisoners. As White returned home, Iran announced that the United States would free Majid Taheri, a Florida-based Iranian-American doctor convicted of sanctions violations. Fromer New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who helped facilitate the negotiations, confirmed to Al-Monitor last week that the Iranians had predicated White’s release on Taheri’s return. Also last week, the United States returned Sirous Asgari, a scientist acquitted of sanctions violations charges last year, to Iran.

The reluctance of both sides to call it a prisoner swap stands in contrast to the exchange that took place last year. At the time, neither Washington nor Tehran shied away from the term to describe the release of American scholar Xiyue Wang and Iranian stem cell researcher Masould Soleimani.