"The release of US citizens held overseas is of the utmost importance to us," President Donald Trump emphasized. • The deal was brokered by a Swiss broker, which led to the first agreement of its kind since Trump took office.

• US citizen released by Wang, along with Brian Hawke // Photo: IP

• Suleimani and Foreign Minister Yarani Zarif // Photo: AFP

• US President Donald Trump // Photo: IP

Rare event: Captive exchange between the United States and Iran took place on Saturday. US President Donald Trump has announced that Xia Wang, a U.S. citizen who has been held in Iranian prison for three years on espionage charges, has been returned to his state. An Iranian official added that the Iranian citizen Masud Suleimani was released at the same time from detention in the United States.

The surprising move was made with the help of Switzerland. According to reports from the Iranian news agency IRNA, prisoners' exchanges have taken place in Zurich. It was also reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zarif was present at the time of the exchange and is expected to return to Iran in the coming hours with the civilian released. A senior US official said that Brian Hawk, the US Special Representative for Iran escorted Suleimani to Switzerland.

US-Iran captive exchange deal // Photo: Reuters

In a statement issued by the White House, President Trump thanked the Swiss government for its help in the prisoner-release negotiations but did not mention the release of Iranian civilian Suleimani. "Liberating Americans held captive is of utmost importance to my government, and we will continue to work hard to bring back all our citizens held captive overseas," the president said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said the prisoners' exchange was swift, and after he finished, he posted in his Twitter account pictures of the prisoner Suleimani on the plane on the way back to Iran. "I am pleased that Professor Masoud Suleimani and Mr. Xia Wang will be arriving soon. I would like to inform everyone involved in the story, especially the Swiss government," Zarif tweeted.

The POWs: Student and stem cell specialist

The released U.S. citizen, Xia Wang, is a graduate student at Princeton University who was convicted of espionage charges in favor of the United States and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017. His family claimed he came to Iran for research on the degree in history he studied, and denied any connection to espionage.

According to University data, Wang was born in 1980 in Beijing and emigrated to the United States in 2001. In 2008, he became an American citizen. His wife and son are Chinese citizens.

Suleimani, a stem cell specialist, was arrested at the Chicago airport in October 2018 for allegedly attempting to export to Iran biological agents in defiance of US sanctions imposed on Iran following its nuclear program.