Hope for prisoner swap fades as US deports Iranian scientist, but no Americans freed

An Iranian scientist detained by the U.S.

Navy veteran Michael White, who contracted the novel coronavirus in Iranian custody and was released on medical furlough.

and Iranian foreign ministries denied on Tuesday that Sirous Asgari, the Iranian scientist, was ever part of a prisoner exchange.

Since November, the 59-year old professor had been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, where he also contracted the coronavirus as he awaited deportation after a federal judge dismissed espionage charges against him.

In a statement to ABC News, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Tuesday that Asgari "is not and has never been a participant in any prisoner swap with Iran.".

deporting Asgari and Iran allowing White, a cancer patient, to leave the country after his release on medical furlough.

A spokesperson for the White family told ABC News there has been no movement on his release and tweeted late Monday night that reports about his case "are not accurate.

In addition to White, the Iranian government has detained three dual Iranian American citizens -- Siamak Namazi, a businessman held since October 2015; his father Baquer Namazi, an 83-year old former United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official and Iranian provincial governor; and Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian environmentalist with U.S.

had been trying to deport Asgari since December, "but the Iranian government repeatedly has held up the process." An ICE spokesperson told ABC News on May 5 that his removal had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic