Al-Monitor - Responding to a proposal by Iran�s foreign minister for a prisoner swap, the State Department today urged Iran to release unjustly detained Americans immediately, but did not wholly reject Zarif�s proposal.

�I put this offer on the table publicly now: Exchange them,� Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said today at the Asia Society in New York.

�We believe their charges are phony,� Zarif said, referring to Iranians imprisoned in the United States and on US extradition requests, mostly for alleged violations of US export restrictions and sanctions violations. �The United States believes charges against these people in Iran are phony."

Iran has imprisoned several Americans, including Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF official; Princeton scholar Xiyue Wang; Michael White, a US Navy veteran; and Lebanese-born US green card holder Nizar Zakka. Iran has also not provided information on the whereabouts of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing on Kish Island in 2007.

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