Iranian Physician Returns Home as Part of Prisoner Swap with US

Dr. Matteo Taerri arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Monday morning as part of a prisoner swap with the United States that has already involved the release of an Iranian scientist and a US Navy veteran. Taerri, a dermatologist who had been living in Florida, was arrested when he tried to send home a special filter that required an export license due to its suitability for use in research on biological and chemical weapons. He pleaded guilty late last year to that charge and to charges of making a series of small bank deposits to avoid having to report the sums. Sirous Asgari, the Iranian scientist previously released, was being held in the US after being accused of trying to steal secret data on research being conducted for the Navy on anti-corrosive stainless steel. The American who was freed, Michael White, had been detained for posting messages on social media that were critical of the Islamic Republic’s leadership. He was in the country to visit his Iranian girlfriend. The swaps took place despite a US-Iranian relationship that has been fraught with tension over nuclear activities, harsh economic sanctions, maritime incidents and the assassination by a US drone of one of Iran’s top generals.