The United States announced on Monday that it allowed the transfer of 6 billion Iranian dollars frozen in South Korea within the framework of an agreement reached in August in Tehran for the release of prisoners.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken “signed a waiver authorizing the transfer of funds” in a formal notification to the US Congress, a spokesman for his department said.
It happened last week, he added.
Hours earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said they hoped “the transfer will be completed in the coming days and for Iran to have full access to its assets.”
The purpose of this operation was to transfer $6 billion in Iranian funds, blocked by South Korea due to sanctions against the Islamic Republic, to a special account in Qatar.
Iran will then be able to allocate these funds to humanitarian purchases, such as food and medicine.
Kanani stated on Monday that Iran can buy “any benefit not authorized” by the United States and “use the full unblocked funds,” not just to buy “medicine and food.”
However, the US diplomatic spokesman said that “these funds will be transferred to restricted accounts in Qatar” and that “the United States has the right to control how and when they are spent.”
This financial arrangement was announced on August 10 within the framework of an agreement between Tehran and Washington, brokered by Qatar, to release American prisoners held in Iran and Iranians held in the United States.
“We are confident that the exchange of prisoners will happen soon,” Kanani said.
As part of the deal, Tehran placed five American prisoners of Iranian origin under house arrest, before they are likely to be transferred to Qatar for release.
Experts believe that this carefully negotiated arrangement reflects an easing of tensions between Iran and the United States, which have not had diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
However, they did not advance a possible agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in 2015, almost dead since the United States withdrew in 2018 by the decision of the then president, Donald Trump.
If it happens in the coming days, the agreement will take place a year after the start of protests in Iran over the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini and on the eve of the UN General Assembly in New York, which is expected to be the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, attended.
