Bloomberg - The return of an Iranian scientist who was imprisoned in the U.S. isn’t part of a prisoner-swap deal between the two countries, Iran’s state TV said on Tuesday, citing foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.

The comment came after Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Instagram that the scientist, Sirous Asgari, was on his way back to Iran. Asgari had been in custody in the U.S. since 2017 while on trial for fraud and selling state secrets, and had pleaded for release from an immigration center after contracting Covid-19.