Tehran Calls on Washington to Release All Iranians Taken Hostage
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi on Thursday night confirmed media reports that the US has released an Iranian physician after spending over a year in jail, calling on Washington to release all other Iranian citizens taken “hostage”.
Dr. Majid Taheri, an Iranian scientist who had been imprisoned in the US on false charges, has been released from jail, the spokesman said in a statement.
Taheri, said to be a longtime resident of Florida, spent 16 months in prison for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.
Mousavi also said that US citizen Michael White, who had been sentenced to prison in Iran for “security crimes” and in a lawsuit brought by “private plaintiffs”, was released after satisfying the plaintiffs in respect to the cause of action while being granted “Islamic mercy for his other crimes.”
“He was released from jail given the time served and in respect of human rights considerations, and left Iran on Thursday,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry official added, Press TV reported.
Mousavi said the US navy veteran, who had been detained in 2018, was on medical furlough in the Swiss embassy before being allowed to leave Iran.
US President Donald Trump also said on Twitter that White would be “home with his family in America very soon.”
Reuters quoted Taheri’s lawyer as saying that he was allowed to return to Iran “as part of an agreement between Iran and the United States that included American citizen Michael White's release.”
