US rejects Iran’s ‘cruel’ suggestion of deal on American detainees

US calls the Iranian comments an 'outrageous effort to deflect blame'

US State Department spokesman Ned Price called the meeting 'a positive first step'. AFP

The US has rejected Iran's charge that it is delaying a proposed prisoner swap by linking the fate of four Americans held in Iran to talks on a nuclear deal.

This is an “outrageous effort to deflect blame,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and lead negotiator, took to Twitter on Saturday to demand the US and the UK “stop linking a humanitarian exchange” with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He held out hope of a prisoner release if the US and the UK “fulfil their part of the deal.”

That’s “just another cruel effort to raise the hopes of their families,” Mr Price said in a statement.

“Araghchi speaks of us taking an agreement hostage when it is his government that has been unjustly detaining four innocent Americans for years,” the State Department spokesman said.

He said there is no deal on the detainees and called on Iran to release them immediately.

In another tweet, Mr Araghchi said the nuclear talks in Vienna are on hold during Iran’s transition of power.

Reviving the nuclear deal would set the stage for lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for the Iranians scaling back their nuclear activities.

The talks in Vienna adjourned in June after hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi won Iran’s presidential election.

“The release of our unjustly detained citizens is a top priority for us, and we remain interested in seeing to that as soon as possible,” Mr Price said.

The comments by Mr Price in Washington and Mr Araghchi in Tehran are the latest evidence of an impasse in negotiations on a possible US return to the agreement abandoned by former president Donald Trump.