(CNN) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called for Iran to release Americans who are being wrongfully detained and warned that the US would hold Tehran responsible if any of them died from the coronavirus.

"Our response will be decisive," Pompeo warned in a statement.

"Reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens," Pompeo said. "Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions defies basic human decency."

Courts across Iran have granted eligible inmates furlough as part of the measures to contain coronavirus in the country, said Judiciary Chief Hojatoleslam Ebrahim Raeisi, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency on Monday.

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