Release of US prisoners showed true face of Iran’s humanitarian motives: Raeisi

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi has said that a decision to release five US prisoners from Iranian jails was a testament to Iran’s humanitarian motives.

“...I do think that the accomplishment was something that led to the happiness of the families of the prisoners, as well as having been able to show the true face of our humanitarian motives and efforts,” said Raeisi in an interview with CNN, excerpts of which were released on the American channel’s website on Wednesday.

The comments came two days after Iran allowed five US citizens who had been convicted by Iranian courts to return to the United States as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the US in which five Iranian prisoners were also released by Washington. 

President Raeisi noted that those detained in Iran had "committed crimes," however, the Iranian citizens were "unfairly" jailed in the United States. 

CNN's Fareed Zakaria interviewed the Iranian president in New York where he has been staying since earlier this week to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Raeisi delivered a speech to the UNGA late on Tuesday where he strongly criticized the United States for its continued but unsuccessful efforts to exert pressure on the Iranian nation through the use of sanctions.

Addressing the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Raeisi says the global Americanization project has failed.

"The world is irreversibly transitioning into a novel order. The Western domination equation does not work for the world anymore, and the old liberal order that used to serve the interests of imperialists and insatiable capitalists, has been brushed to one side," he told the session in New York on Tuesday.

ME