US refused Iraq deal to free Israel researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov

The US refused a prisoner exchange deal with Iraqi militias that would have seen kidnapped Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov freed, according to media reports on Thursday.

The Trump administration refused to release prisoners linked to Iran in exchange for the release of Tsurkov, who has been held hostage by an Iraqi militia – supposedly the Iran-aligned Kataib Hezbollah – since March 2023, according to Asharq al-Awsat. 

The US is concerned that the deal could finance Tehran’s proxy activities across the region. Meanwhile, an Iraqi source confirmed that a national security agency has been instructed to engage with “friendly parties” to secure the swift release of the abductee.

The meeting between US mediators and intermediaries for Iraqi militias allegedly took place in late February. 

Sources told the Saudi media outlet that the mediators succeeded in lowering the ransom demand from $500 million to $200 million. However, the American agents declined to engage in negotiations tied to conditions for Tsurkov’s release. 

The US considers the release of Tsurkov to be the responsibility of the Iraqi government and that paying the ransom for her release would result in the enrichment of Iran-linked groups considered by the US to be terrorist organisations. 

Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammad Shia al-Sudani has allegedly emphasised the importance of negotiating the release of Tsurkov to Baghdad, after US officials met with him and went as far as threatening to sanction the country if she is not released soon.

This comes as another report in Israeli media claims that “relevant parties” have begun a new round of negotiations to secure her release, but no other details have been released. 

The renewed efforts come after the visit of Trump’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler travelled to Baghdad last month to push for her release.

In recent days, it has been suggested that Tsurkov may have been transferred to Iran, but Western diplomats told Israeli media they believe the researcher is still on Iraqi soil. 

In January, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said that Tsurkov was still alive and that the Iraqi government was doing all it could to facilitate her release. 

Tsurkov, who is also a Russian citizen, is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science at Princeton University and a researcher at the Forum for Regional Thinking in Israel and the Newlines Institute in Washington.

In 2023, Tsurkov travelled to Baghdad on her Russian passport to study pro-Iran militias and the movement of Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr as part of her research on the region, according to several journalists who had met her. She was kidnapped in Baghdad after leaving a restaurant in an upscale area of the city.

Tsurkov is also known for her political activism, supporting causes such as the Syrian revolution and opposing the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.