Iran doctor, freed in swap for US Navy veterans, returns to Tehran
The semiofficial Fars news agency published an image of Matteo Taerri being greeted at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport by Foreign Ministry officials and his family. The agency and state television identified Taerri by his Persian name, M...
Taerri, a dermatologist, had been charged with attempting to export a filter to Iran that he said was for vaccine research but that US authorities said required a license because it could be used for chemical and biological warfare purposes.
He was also accused of structuring a series of bank deposits below $10,000 to evade reporting requirements under federal law.
He pleaded guilty late last year and has already served months behind bars. But in April, he was permitted to be free on bond after the Justice Department withdrew its request to have him detained, citing what it said were significant foreign policy ...
Fars quoted Taerri as calling his charges “futile and unfair.” Taerri reportedly said he tried to send the filter to Iran to help scientists at Tehran University manufacture a cancer vaccine, without elaborating.
The White-Taerri swap comes after months of quiet diplomacy, even as the US under President Donald Trump continues a maximum-pressure campaign targeting Iran after unilaterally withdrawing from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.
The two countries had been locked in a series of escalating incidents, including the US drone strike killing an Iranian general in Baghdad and an Iranian ballistic missile attack targeting American troops in Iraq.
Other Westerns and Iranians with ties abroad have been detained by authorities in the country, likely to be used as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, on hand for the airport ceremony, said Iran had “mobilized” its potential to release other Iranians in the US, without elaborating.
