Could a prisoner swap and the release of Iranian funds lead to more agreements between Iran and the United States?  

U.S. mainstream media reports a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran could increase the prospects for further diplomatic cooperation, including containing Iran’s nuclear program. That’s the view of some officials and analysts. 

The deal, still to be finalized, calls for the release of five U.S. citizens and five Iranians, as well as around $6 billion in Iranian funds. Under the agreement, the United States says the money can only be used for humanitarian purposes.

Joining the discussion:

• Negar Mortazavi is an Iranian-American journalist and political analyst. 
• John Ghazvinian is Executive Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Middle East Center. 
• Ali Akbar Dareini is a researcher and writer at the Center for Strategic Studies in Tehran. 
• Soraya Lennie is a journalist, author and analyst.

Iran says last week’s deal with the US on the release of prisoners and frozen funds could lead to diplomacy in other areas including its nuclear program https://t.co/cpjUsBKO74

— Bloomberg (@business) August 14, 2023

US says no change to Iran policy after prisoner swap agreement https://t.co/wvafFHsvLY pic.twitter.com/vv5C54BUF0

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) August 15, 2023