Iran accuses US, UK of holding prisoner exchange talks 'hostage'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

53% : Iran and the US have acknowledged for months that they are engaging in indirect talks - facilitated by Switzerland - to finalise an exchange of prisoners.
51% : Deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is preparing for a transfer of power to the incoming administration of Ebrahim Raisi in early August, and therefore months-long talks in Vienna to restore the country's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers must wait.
50% : The committee is also reportedly comprised of Araghchi; Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council; Ali Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran; and two legislators.
49% : But steps Iran has taken to advance its nuclear programme, including enriching uranium to higher than 60 percent and producing uranium metal, have also complicated the negotiations.
41% : The Vienna talks are likely to be continued in the second half of August, but it remains to be seen how political differences in Tehran evolve until then.
38% : Tehran, Iran - Iran's top nuclear negotiator has accused the United States and the United Kingdom of holding prisoner exchange talks "hostage" after Iran said nuclear talks should be delayed until after its new government comes into office.
38% : Zarif said most of the sanctions the US has imposed on Iran since 2018 - when it unilaterally abandoned the JCPOA - will be lifted if an agreement is reached in Vienna.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.