Exclusive; White House: Prioritizing the Return of American Prisoners, Not Nuclear Negotiations with the Islamic Republic

John Kirby, the Strategic Communications Coordinator for the National Security Council at the White House, responded on Friday to a question from the Persian section of Voice of America regarding the timeline for the release of American prisoners of Iranian descent and their return to the U.S. He stated that Washington is monitoring the mental and physical health of these prisoners through the Swiss Embassy (acting as the U.S. interests protector) in Iran. Kirby mentioned, "They are still under house arrest. We have been able to inquire about their situation through the Swiss, and it seems that considering the conditions they have endured, namely imprisonment in Evin prison, which is a brutal environment for holding prisoners, they are in relatively good health and have a relatively good morale. I do not have an update on when this house arrest will end and under what conditions it will occur. We are still working with the Iranians on how we can negotiate for their final release, and I think you can understand that I cannot go into more details at this time until that agreement is finalized." About three weeks ago, in a significant development "on the path to freedom" for five American dual nationals imprisoned in the Islamic Republic's prisons, four of them were moved to house arrest "in a hotel in Tehran," which seems to be seen as "a step forward" in the "hostage exchange agreement" between the United States and Iran. One person was already under house arrest. This is the first step of an agreement under which $6 billion of Iran's blocked assets in South Korea will be released in exchange for allowing these five American citizens to leave Iran. John Kirby also commented on a claim by a Tehran official regarding the resumption of nuclear talks, stating, "We are not engaged in active discussions or negotiations with the Iranians regarding their nuclear ambitions. Nothing like that is happening at the moment. Let me be clear that our priority in negotiating with the Iranians is to safely bring our American citizens home. But the second priority regarding Iran is to ensure that we are responding to Iran's destabilizing behavior across the region. They continue to support terrorist networks in the Shamat region and beyond. They continue to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz. They continue to support Russia by sending drones to kill innocent Ukrainians, so we are focused on these issues to counter these destabilizing behaviors. Therefore, there is currently no active nuclear negotiation taking place, and I do not expect one to occur in the near future." Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, also stated on July 25 in an interview with CBS that regarding the nuclear program, "We are not close to any agreement." Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also mentioned this week in remarks at the Swedish Institute of International Relations, "Unfortunately, we have not reached a point where we can say that everything is going well regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program." The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency noted that given these urgent concerns, the Islamic Republic must provide conditions more than ever for the Agency to confirm the peacefulness of its nuclear program with "all information" and "maximum transparency."