On March 23, federal prosecutors revealed that an Iranian man who had been acting as a consultant to Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York had been charged with violating US laws related to Iran. A number of Iranian websites have published analyses that the US’ primary goal in the arrest is to do another prisoner swap.
According to Reuters, Ahmad Sheikhzadeh was accused of receiving “a cash salary by the Iran mission” that was deposited in a Citibank account. The indictment says that “he also used that account for side transactions with two US-based co-conspirators who wished to invest in Iran.”