The two sides in Yemen's conflict Monday said Monday they had agreed to exchange some 880 detainees after talks in Switzerland facilitated by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The head of the Yemeni government delegation told Reuters around 880 detainees would be exchanged.
The development comes after a deal between Iran adn Saudi Arabia March 10 to restore diplomatic ties.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said it would release 181 detainees, including 15 Saudi and three Sudanese, in exchange for 706 prisoners from the government, according to statements on Twitter by the head of the Houthis' prisoner affairs committee Abdul Qader al-Murtada and the group's chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam.
The UN and ICRC did not immediately confirm that a deal had been reached.
There is hope that a deal could facilitate broader efforts to end the conflict, which have been helped by the resumption of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia this month.
UN special envoy Hans Grundberg told the UN Security Council last week that there were intense diplomatic efforts at different levels to end the fighting.
The exchange of around 15,000 conflict-related detainees has been under discussion as a key confidence-building measure under a December 2018 UN-mediated deal known as the Stockholm Agreement.
But progress has been slow. A few exchanges, including in 2022 and 2020, have been coordinated by the ICRC, alongside smaller deals directly between the warring parties.
The conflict in Yemen has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014.
A UN-brokered truce last April has largely held, despite expiring in October without the parties agreeing to extend it.
Reporting by Reuters
Iran International has received a copy of a 44-page document that contains citations of the remarks made by 45 IRGC commanders and clerics at a meeting with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at his office on January 3 on the anniversary of the death of IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani.
The document ends with an excerpt of Khamenei’s own remarks complaining that those present had spoken about loss of faith and the hardships that the rank and file endure, but no one had talked about those who had kept their faith in the regime despite hardships.
The meeting was held more than three months into the anti-regime protests following the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of ‘morality police’ and quickly spread across the country.
Participants in the meeting included top IRGC officers such as Major General Gholam-Ali Rashid, commander of IRGC’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Hojjat ol-Eslam Mahmoud Mohammadi-Shahroudi who heads the Basij Militia Organization of Seminary Students and Clerics and Hojjat ol-Eslam Abdollah Haji-Sadeghi, Khamenei’s representative in the IRGC.
Rashid told Khamenei that there had been several cases of major insubordination since the protests started including aborted plans to use artillery to shell certain targets in Tehran, including Khamenei’s residence. Culprits were arrested, he said.
Speakers mainly focused on the negative impact of the protests on the morale of forces under the command of the IRGC, with several offering anecdotal accounts of insubordination. They also mentioned personnel’s refusal to use violence against protesters, particularly women and also cases of desertion. According to one commander, forces had even helped the protesters in some cases by providing misleading information to operational forces and sending them to wrong locations.
Some of the speakers also said the rank and file were paid low salaries which in many cases made them identify themselves with the discontented public and sympathize with them. Some like Major General Rashid suggested that taking action to improve the living standards of the personnel was required given rising cost of living that affected them and their loyalty to the regime.
Iran has been experiencing 40-50-percent annual inflation for the past three years, with food items rising 70-110 percent in one year. Crippling US sanctions are the major reason behind the economic crisis.
In one case, Colonel Ehsan Khorshidi, the coordinating deputy of the IRGC in Alborz Province said that a few conscripts and a lieutenant stole military’s food supplies which were then distributed in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Karaj, the capital of the province. “Feeling sympathy with the people is not a small matter. This time it was the food supplies of the division. What if next time it is the weapons they distribute?” he asked.
He also pointed out that many among the families of the forces had been involved in the protests and had even been arrested. “This morning at least six senior officers contacted me to ask me to request my help to get backing from the commander of the force in the matter of the arrest of their family members.”
According to the document, Khamenei said the judiciary chief should order leniency in the cases of arrested IRGC staff’s family members.
Several of the speakers pointed out that the continuation of the protest for months and their spread across the country had been beyond their expectations. Given past experiences, Colonel Khorshidi said, officials thought the protests would be quelled even before reaching the level they could be considered as a “threat”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian repeated on Sunday that the two countries have agreed on such a deal but it is not clear if the claim is true or it is a stunt by the regime. The new snippet of information that was divulged to the media in Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks was that the US and Iran had agreed on the deal March last year and they are tweaking the details through an unnamed third party in recent weeks.
“We have signed a document in March last year through a representative introduced by the United States from a third country. We consider the issue of prisoner exchange to be a completely human issue. In recent weeks, there have been indirect discussions to update that document regarding the exchange of prisoners," he said.
The minister added that the basis of any new agreement is the minutes of the meeting that were signed in March last year. “Our opinion is that the American side should pay attention to the human aspects of this issue above all, this is something that is strongly emphasized by us,” he said.
If true, a deal one year ago might have been within the context of a nuclear agreement that never materialized and probably hinged on a US agreeing to free Iran’s frozen funds. It has long been reported that South Korea would free about $7 billion held in escrow by its banks due to US sanctions.
The United States has categorically denied the existence of such a deal, but it can simply be the Biden administration’s tactic not to build up the hopes of the involved families or to avoid international outcry over its covert appeasement of a regime that is condemned by the international community over its gross human rights violation during recent protests and its military assistance to Russia.
Washington has repeatedly expressed concern about the fate of its citizens imprisoned in Iran but also has rejected the existence of such a deal, that can be construed as a failure to stand up against the Islamic Republic’s policy of hostage taking, a practice that started in the early days after the establishment of the regime and has been often used ever since.
In November 1979, a group of leftist students backed by the new revolutionary government occupied the US embassy in Tehran and took 54 Americans hostage for 444 days. Iran never condemned the act that ruptured bilateral relations. Tehran denies any policy of hostage taking and insists all foreigners are tried legally. However, it has frequently shown readiness for prisoner exchanges and participated in swaps in the past.
UN experts and international human rights organizations say that the Islamic Republic takes foreigners hostage to extract concessions from the West.
Currently, the regime is in the midst of negotiations to bring home one of its former diplomats, who is serving a life sentence in Belgium for his involvement in a plot to bomb a gathering of an exiled dissident group. Belgium's Constitutional Court said in a press release earlier in the month refused to annul a treaty with Iran that could lead to the diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, convicted of terrorism, to be swapped for Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, held hostage in Iran.
Since early March, Iran insists it is doing a prisoner swap with the US in spite of the Biden administration’s categorical denials. The Iranian foreign ministry says the "written agreement has been signed by the official representative of the United States” though has not named the official.
White House denies such claims, calling it “a cruel lie”, but reiterates that the United States is committed to securing the release of Americans held in Iran.
Three Iranian-American citizens, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharqi, and Morad Tahbaz, are still imprisoned in Iran. In exchange for the release of the hostages, in addition to demanding money, the Islamic Republic plans to urge Washington to release the Iranians imprisoned in the US for circumventing sanctions or involvement in terror activities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told a news conference in Tehran his country had agreed to such a meeting, although he did not list the three locations or say when such a meeting might take place.
Separately, an aide to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz had invited Raisi to visit Riyadh in a letter welcoming the deal agreed on March 10 to restore ties within two months, after years of hostility.
Raisi "welcomed the invitation," Mohammad Jamshidi, political deputy at the president's office, said on Twitter without mentioning a timeframe.
Iran’s regime pressed by domestic unrest and a deep economic crisis seems determined to improve regional ties and reduce its international isolation. Nuclear talks with the United States that could lift crippling sanctions and lessen pressure have stalled with no immediate sign of a breakthrough.
The Saudi government's communications office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Saudi state media has not reported on the letter.
The deal between the region's Sunni Muslim and Shiite powers, brokered by China, was announced March 10 after four days of talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two rival Middle Eastern powers.
Amir-Abdollahian also said Tehran was ready for the mutual reopening of embassies.
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a dispute between the two countries over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite Muslim cleric.
Amir-Abdollahian said Iran also hoped steps would be made to normalize its ties with Bahrain, a close Saudi ally that followed Riyadh in severing diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016.
Bahrain, a Sunni Muslim-ruled monarchy with a majority Shiite population, has repeatedly accused Iran of fomenting unrest in the island state, which Tehran denies.
"An agreement was reached two months ago for Iranian and Bahraini technical delegations to visit the embassies of the two countries. We hope that some obstacles between Iran and Bahrain will be removed, and we will take basic steps to reopen the embassies," Amir-Abdollahian said.
Bahrain's government communications office did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.
Bahrain, together with other Gulf Arab states, welcomed the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran to restore relations.
Iran’s national security chief Ali Shamkhani, an old IRGC hand, visited the United Arab Emirates Thursday and met with members of its top leadership. However so far, there is no concrete information about details of the discussions in the UAE and Iranian media.
IRNA, the official Iranian government news agency, said Shamkhani’s visit showed that once Tehran and Riyadh embark on rapprochement, Saudi allies would follow and “foreign influence” will be reduced in the region, implicitly referring to the United States.
Shamkhani met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and ruler of Dubai and other top officials. “Their talks covered regional and international issues of mutual concern, and the importance of working to support peace and co-operation in the region to enable progress and prosperity for its people,” state news agency Wam reported.
With reporting by Reuters
Iran International has acquired a classified document outlining the proceedings of a meeting of various government officials from different departments at the presidential office in late February according to which strategic fuel reserves have dropped to a dangerously low level, forcing major repairs at refineries to be delayed to allow maximum production for the time being.
The document sent to the president and a host of other officials including the chief justice and parliament speaker, as well as heads of the military and law enforcement forces refers to the imbalance in gasoline production-usage levels as a “serious issue”.
Participants in the meeting decided that the oil ministry, which is apparently drawing up the new plan, should offer assurances to the public that it will help maintain the supply of fuel at normal levels. The meeting decided to advise officials to avoid any public remarks or suggestions that could be interpreted as an intention to raise current fuel prices.
Details of the new fuel usage management plan have not been mentioned in the document.
There have been several reports in recent months that Iran’s refineries face technical problems and they operate below normal levels. Lack of foreign currency, US sanctions and insufficient natural gas supplies are all reasons impeding full operational capacity.
The report also includes several suggested measures, including controlling domestic media reporting on the issue and containing the consequences of enforcing the plan amid the many economic troubles that Iranians are currently facing.
In November 2019, the announcement of the government’s decision to increase fuel prices by 50–200 percent triggered a cycle of protests and unrest across the country that lasted for over two weeks. During this time, angry protesters torched hundreds of gas stations, banks, and government buildings.
Gas station torched by protesters in Eslamshahr to the south of the capital Tehran, November 2019.
Security forces heavy-handedly suppressed the protests amid a week-long internet shutdown. The crackdown was the most violent since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The month of Aban in the Iranian calendar during which the protests occurred is now often referred to as “Bloody Aban”.
Thousands including journalists were arrested. The government never officially reported the death toll but as many as 1500 were killed according to unofficial reports.
Daily gasoline consumption has risen to 104 million liters from 82m liters before the pandemic, the report says, adding that usage is expected to rise to between 120m and 130m during the New Year holidays (late March and early April).
While the representative of the Central Bank of Iran in the meeting attributed the increased fuel use to smuggling to neighboring countries, a representative of the Economic Security Police blamed high fuel use of domestically produced vehicles and recommended an increase in production.
The meeting focused on the fuel supply issue but some other economic topics such as controlling the foreign exchange market were also discussed. According to the report, the meeting tasked security and judiciary bodies with controlling the media coverage of these issues.