The United States and Iran have reached an agreement giving freedom to five Americans in exchange for a few imprisoned Iranians, and Tehran possible access to some $6 billion of frozen Iranian oil revenues. It is reported by The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the details of the deal.
As a first step towards the deal, which came after more than two years of secret negotiations, Iran released five Iranian-Americans with dual citizenship under house arrest, according to State Department and National Security Council officials, the paper said.
Another scandal in Washington: Republicans criticized the president Joe Biden for concluding a deal with Iran, the political scientist writes in his telegram channel Malek Dudakov.
The White House will unlock $6 billion of Iranian money frozen in South Korean banks. In exchange, Tehran will release from prison five Iranian-Americans accused of spying for the United States.
Biden’s team has been trying to negotiate with Iran for months now. At the same time, fearing criticism, he tries very awkwardly to refute the very fact of these negotiations. Although recently the United States has already given Iraq the right to pay off its debts with Iran, and now they have lifted sanctions on South Korea as well.
For Iran, unlocking its assets is a big diplomatic victory. Biden, trying to somehow smooth the effect of his decisions, simultaneously sent 3,000 American soldiers to the region, just to somehow show strength in relations with Iran, with which Washington is now waging a desperate tanker war in the Persian Gulf.
However, Republican presidential candidates and congressional legislators unanimously accuse Biden of making concessions to Iran in everything and giving Tehran an opportunity to earn extra money, while not particularly forcing Tehran to somehow limit its nuclear program. Therefore, Iran takes the money, but continues to confront the United States and strengthens cooperation with Russia and China.
“The White House is trying to act in the logic of realpolitik, hoping at the same time with a stick and a carrot to stop the strengthening of the large Moscow-Tehran-Beijing alliance. But Washington politics has become so stupid over the past decades that it is simply not capable of such schemes. So it’s definitely not worth waiting for a new Iranian nuclear deal, and it is unlikely that US policy towards Iran will become less schizophrenic, with simultaneous seizures of oil tankers and chaotic indulgences in the financial sector, ”Dudakov believes.
#Iran #secretly #agreed #States #exchange #prisoners #view #billion #EADaily
2023-08-10 20:27:00
