On the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly in New York, Majed Al Ansari, an advisor to Qatar's deputy prime minister, spoke to FRANCE 24's Marc Perelman about the US-Iran prisoner swap which was mediated by Qatar, the process of reaching that deal and the possibility of reviving Iran nuclear talks.
Asked about this week's US-Iran prisoner swap deal, which followed months of Qatar-mediated talks, Al Ansari explained that the negotiations started "about two years ago", were "very difficult" and "involved a lot of meetings" between both sides. One of the main challenges was "building trust" between Tehran and Washington in order to reach a deal, he added.
Concerning the financial side of the deal and the unfreezing of $6 billion that Iran will now be able to access, he explained that "the money can only be spent on humanitarian issues", insisting that guarantees are in place to ensure this.
This deal "should be seen as a first step to more agreements between both sides" that can be widened to include more difficult issues such as reviving nuclear talks with Iran, Al Ansari said. He added that Qatar is open to offering its mediation again, while cautioning that "there are no direct talks on the nuclear issue taking place" for now.
