Negotiations to release Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian researcher who was taken hostage in Iraq two years ago, are at advanced stages, according to Arabic media reports Saturday.

Iraqi officials told the Saudi outlet al-Hadath that “serious efforts are being made to release Tsurkov.” Iraqi news network Alrabiaa reported that a deal for her release could be implemented within the next 10 days.

Responding to the reports, an Israeli official told the Ynet news site that efforts to free Tsurkov were ongoing. “Israel has requested assistance from the US and additional countries” on the matter, said the official.

According to al-Hadath, Tsurkov’s anticipated release is part of discrete agreements made between the United States and Iraq. The reported agreements follow efforts from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to “ease international pressure” and a secret visit by an Iraqi defense official to Washington.

Al-Hadath quoted the Iraqi officials as saying, “A proposal was made to transfer Tsurkov to a neutral party before her release, in order to avoid internal embarrassment.

“There are secret security talks with the group that kidnapped Tsurkov to secure her release. Her expected release demonstrates the Iraqi government’s commitment to cooperating with the international community and to achieving a balance in relations between Tehran and Washington.”

Iraq is both a significant ally of Iran and a strategic partner of the US, and has for years negotiated a delicate balancing act between the two foes.

The deal for Tsurkov’s release will also include the release of an Iranian detainee in an Iraqi prison and “six others accused of terrorist attacks against American interests,” according to Alrabiaa.

Tsurkov’s sister, Emma, responded to the reports, saying: “We hope the reports are true, but right now we don’t have any details. We await official updates.”

An Iraqi official in contact with one of the pro-Iran Iraqi militias holding Tsurkov told the Kan public broadcaster that, despite pressure from al-Sudani, the groups have yet to give final approval for the deal.

A senior security source told AFP the deal is also contingent upon “the Americans’ approval for the release of the Iranian accused of killing an American citizen.” The US has yet to agree to the Iranian’s release, according to three Iraqi sources who spoke with AFP.

The Iranian and four Iraqis were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq for murdering American civilian Stephen Troell, who was shot dead in Baghdad in November 2022.

In December last year, the US Justice Department announced that a “complaint was unsealed… charging” Iranian Mohammad Reza Nouri, “an officer” in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with allegedly orchestrating the killing.

Tsurkov is being held in Iraq by the Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah, a US-designated terror group backed by Iran, according to Israeli officials. The group, however, has not claimed responsibility for her disappearance.

Efforts to release Tsurkov have been spearheaded by Adam Boehler, the US Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

Boehler reportedly threatened al-Sudani in March with “political and economic consequences” should the Iraqi government not secure Tsurkov’s release.

Under the previous administration of former president Joe Biden, Tsurkov’s family struggled to get Washington to throw its weight behind the efforts to secure her release. US officials then said there was little they could do because she is not an American citizen.

Tsurkov, who likely entered Iraq on her Russian passport, had traveled to Iraq as part of her doctoral studies at Princeton after previously traveling to the country and other Arab countries in the region.

In November 2023, Al Rabiaa aired the first hostage video of Tsurkov known to the public since her kidnapping.

In the video, Tsurkov mentioned the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which raged after the Palestinian terror group launched its October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Security and diplomatic sources have told AFP they do not rule out the possibility that she may have been taken to Iran.