IRNA - Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s offer for exchanging prisoners with the US is a suitable and diplomatic act to defend the Iranian nationals’ rights.

Boroujerdi expressed hope for exchanging Iranians who have been unjustly imprisoned in the US.

Referring to the fact that it is not the first time that Iran is negotiating with the US for prisoner swap, he told IRNA that thanks to Iranian Foreign Ministry’s responsibility to defend Iranian nationals and that a considerable number of Iranian students have been extradited to US and imprisoned on the pretext of circumventing the US sanctions, Zarif’s suggestion will be in line with upholding Iranian’s rights.

He described the US act against Iranian nationals, elites and nation as cruel, saying the US has been adopting this strategy for many years.

Referring to the US unilateral sanctions against Iran, Boroujerdi said sanction is another battlefield which US has made for Iran and has nothing to do with defending Iranians rights.

He also pointed to the remarks made by Former US President Barack Obama who said Trump’s decisions are false and that they have never been able to impose sanctions on Iran and also that Iranians as an intelligent nation have circumvented the sanction.

Stressing the fact that the US sanctions have never been able to affect Iran’s resistance, Iranian lawmaker said the US sanctions against Iran will result in sanctioning American firms.

Earlier, Zarif told reporters at UN that he had received a letter from US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert O'Brien in which he urged releasing American prisoners in Iran.

He said that he told his deputy to send a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to offer prisoner swap for those Iranians who were imprisoned for violating US sanction principles.

Zarif added that he had also offered Trump administration for exchanging prisoners six months ago, but he received no answer.