US denies Iranian claims of multibillion deal to free western prisoners

It also was not known if there had been ongoing negotiations with the West over frozen funds and prisoner exchanges

(The Free Nazanin campaign/PA)

The US has denied a report by Iranian state-run television that deals had been reached for the Islamic Republic to release US and British prisoners in exchange for Tehran receiving billions of dollars.

It was not immediately clear if the report represented a move by the hardliners running the Iranian broadcaster to disrupt negotiations with the West amid talks in Vienna on Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal.