American Michael White freed in Iran prisoner swap

Donald Trump has voiced hope for progress with Iran after Tehran released a US veteran and the US freed two Iranians.

Michael White, left, with US special envoy to Iran Brian Hook at Zurich airport on Friday. Picture: AFP

US President Donald Trump voiced hope for progress with Iran on Friday after Tehran released a US veteran and the US freed two Iranians.

Michael White, who had contracted the coronavirus while in Iran, flew out on a Swiss military jet to Zurich.

“I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home,” his mother, Joanne White, said.

Mr Trump spoke to Mr White by telephone and voiced rare appreciation to Iran, with which the US was close to all-out war several months ago. “Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!,” the President wrote on Twitter.

As Mr White was flying home, a federal judge issued an order to free an Iranian-American doctor, Majid Taheri, allowing him to go see family in Iran. A day earlier, Iranian Cyrus Asgari — a scientist arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit — returned to Iran.

“This can happen for all prisoners. No need for cherry picking,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. “Iranian hostages held in — and on behalf of — the US should come home,” he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iranian authorities had been “constructive” on freeing Mr White but urged the release of three other US citizens, who remain detained.

Mr White, who had served 13 years in the US Navy, was arrested in July 2018 in the northeastern city of Mashhad after visiting a woman whom he had met online. He was sentenced the following year to 10 years in prison on charges that he insulted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and posted anti-regime remarks on social media under a pseudonym.

In March, as Iran was being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Mr White was handed over to the custody of Switzerland, which handles US interests in the country in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Dr Asgari, a scientist at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, had been detained four years ago on an academic visit to Ohio and accused of stealing trade secrets. He was acquitted last year but handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert is serving a 10-year sentence on trumped up espionage charges.

AFP