Tehran to drop prisoner swap plans with US

DUBAI, AUG 3( REUTERS )– Iran is dropping plans for prisoner swaps with the United States due to “breaches” by Washington in efforts to free the detainees, an unnamed Iranian official told the semi-official Nour News agency on Tuesday.

Tehran and President Joe Biden’s administration have been communicating on prisoner exchanges aimed at securing the release of Iranians held in U.S. jails and other countries over violations of U.S. sanctions, and of Americans jailed in Iran.

“With the continuing Biden administration ... breach es, there is no incentive on Iran’s part to continue this process and therefore the exchanges issue in its current form will be completely removed from its agenda,” the official told Nour News, which is close to Iran’s top national security body.