Trump thanks as Iran frees American in prisoner swap
President Donald Trump had rare positive words for Iran on Saturday, thanking the US foe for a “very fair” negotiation to successfully pull off a prisoner swap that saw an American released from Iranian detention amid soaring tensions.
The exchange, which took place in neutral Switzerland, involved a Princeton graduate student jailed in Iran for espionage since 2016 and an Iranian national arrested over a year ago in Chicago.
“Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation,” tweeted Trump, as Xiyue Wang made his way home to his family. The US leader was expected to welcome Wang in person when he arrives in the United States, after a stop in Germany for medical evaluations.
“It was a one-on-one hostage swap,” Trump told reporters. “I think it was great to show than we can do something. It might have been a precursor as to what can be done.”
The Chinese-born American was in apparent good health and in “very, very good humor,” said a senior US administration official.
Tehran had announced the release of its national, Massoud Soleimani, shortly before Trump revealed that Wang was returning home.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani yesterday announced what he called a “budget of resistance” to counter crippling US sanctions, weeks after a fuel price hike sparked nationwide protests that turned deadly.
Rouhani said the aim was to reduce “hardships” as the Islamic republic has suffered a sharp economic downturn, with a plummeting currency sending inflation skyrocketing and hiking import prices.
The US sanctions imposed in May last year in a bitter dispute centred on Iran’s nuclear programme include an embargo on the crucial oil sector whose sales Washington aims to reduce to zero in a campaign of “maximum pressure”.
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