After Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proposed a prisoner exchange with the United States, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, spokesperson of the judiciary asked Zarif, “to not make proposals without coordination.”
“We expect everyone to not interfere on matters related to the judiciary without coordination,” Esmaili said adding that he is not aware of the prisoner swap proposal.
“First, the judiciary is an independent organization and is responsible for judicial subjects including prisoners’ issues,” he said, “there is no negotiations on prisoner exchanges for now, but I am unaware of negotiations in the past.”
Zarif, in his visit to Washington in late April, proposed a prisoner exchange with the US saying that he was authorized to conduct such talks.
The Islamic Republic is accused of taking US citizens hostage. At least four US citizens are known to be jailed in Iran.
