The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have reached an agreement to exchange prisoners, BBC has reported.
The agreement will see a Chinese-American researcher Xiyue Wang alleged to have spied for the US released, in exchange for an Iranian scientist in the custody of the Americans.
Massoud Soleimani, the Iranian scientist, was arrested in 2018 in Chicago.
He was accused by the Americans of plotting to export biological chemicals to Iran.
The two have strongly denied the accusations made against them.
Reports on New York Times indicate that Xiyue Wang had been held by Iran since 2016.
Iran's Foreign Affairs minister welcomed the prisoner swap.
"Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted as quoted by BBC.
US President Donald Trump also reacted to the prisoner swap in a statement, saying the American hostage had been held under the pretense of engaging in espionage.
"Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas," Trump's statement read in part.
This comes in the context of a diplomatic row between the two countries, triggered by the decision of Trump's administration to pull out of the nuclear deal.