TEHRAN — In his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, government spokesman Ali Rabiei talked about the idea of prisoner exchange between Iran and the United States. Rabiei emphasized that Iran wants the U.S. to release the sanctioned Iranian prisoners in the United States.

He said the number of sanctioned Iranian prisoners who are being held unjustly in the U.S. is more than the American prisoners in Iran.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is pursuing this (issue) with humane and moral considerations that our judiciary emphasizes,” he remarked.

‘Incident at border with Turkey must be clarified’

In response to a question about the recent incident for two Iranian citizens at the Turkish border, the spokesman said that the incident is not good for the two sides’ diplomatic relations. 

“The dimensions of this incident must be clarified. The investigation is still ongoing and our friends in Turkey are following up on this issue in good faith and the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs are constantly sending documents to their counterparts. The Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly pursue this issue to protecting the rights of its citizens,” he emphasized.

He added that right after the incident, Iran sent several notes of protest in various levels and a border meeting was held between the border forces of the two sides in the Chaldoran area. 

The spokesman noted, “The statements of the dear Iranian coolies who were harassed were recorded at the border and the Foreign Ministry in Tehran handed over its note to the Turkish ambassador on the same day.”

He stressed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior have been following this issue closely from the first moment of the incident and have had contacts with Turkish government officials as well as border officials. 

“Follow-ups at the embassy and consulate level have been followed to this date,” Rabiei said.

On April 15, several media outlets said two Iranian citizens named Behnam Samadi and Hassan Kachanlou were tortured and abused by ten Turkish border guards at the zero-point border.

“Pursuing the rights of Iranian citizens has always been important to us, and we have been following this issue seriously since the first moment we became aware of it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly press briefing on Monday.

SA/PA