An Iranian-American doctor has returned to Iran, Iranian state media reported on Monday, after a swap deal between Tehran and Washington that resulted in the release of a U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran.
In a slight thaw in U.S.-Iranian enmity, the United States allowed Majid Taheri to travel to Iran as part of the swap deal. Michael White, an American who said he contracted the coronavirus while detained in Iran, was freed last week.
He said he had been punished by the United States for sending material to Iran to help a research group that was making vaccines. Taheri’s lawyer said he would visit family in Iran and seek medical treatment before returning to the United States. He had pleaded guilty to violating U.S. sanctions, the lawyer added.The prisoner swap deal is a rare bright spot in the relationship between the two foes that has grown more hostile since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. He exited a nuclear agreement Iran had signed with world powers, and reimposed sanctions that had been lifted under the deal.
Last week, materials science professor Sirous Asgari, 59, who was indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors in April 2016 and acquitted in November 2019, returned to Iran. He tested positive for the coronavirus in April and U.S. authorities had said he would be deported once he received medical clearance.
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