Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif

The Iranian foreign ministry dismissed US media reports on swapping prisoners with the al-Qaeda terrorist group, Iran's Fars News Agency reported Thursday.

An official at the Iranian foreign ministry described the claims that Tehran and Al Qaeda have been swapping prisoners as "unfounded and false".

"The Islamic Republic of Iran fights against terrorism and seriously opposes the double-standard policies and attitudes towards the inhuman phenomenon of terrorism and believes that the double-standard criteria and instrumental use of terrorism are among the main causes of the continued life and existence of this ominous phenomenon," he said.

"It is obvious that such media fabrications are carried out to distort the reality and overshadow Iran's actions against terrorism and extremism," the official added.