White House denies prisoner swap talks with Iran

The White House denied it had held 'any discussion' with Iran about a possible prisoner swap,refuting an earlier claim by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The White House denied it had held “any discussion” with Iran about a possible prisoner swap,refuting an earlier claim by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“We have not entered into any discussion with Iran about an exchange,” National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told on Tuesday.

In an interview on state television,Ahmadinejad said that talks about exchanging prisoners with the United States were underway when he was asked about the fate of three American hikers detained in Iran.

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“They have arrested our citizens for nothing… this is very bad… now there are talks whether it is possible to do an exchange” of prisoners,Iran’s leader said.

But Hammer denied talks were underway,and he and other US officials said reports of Ahmadinejad’s comments were “fragmentary.”

“We have made clear that we would like the cases of all our missing and detained American citizens to be resolved,” he said. “If president Ahmadinejad’s comments suggest that they are prepared to resolve these cases,we would welcome that step.”

“But we have not entered into any discussion with Iran about an exchange. As we have indicated publicly,if Iran has questions about its citizens in US custody,we are prepared to answer them.”