Washington confirmed on Monday that it had agreed to transfer six billion dollars, Iranian assets that were frozen in South Korea, to a special account in Qatar, as part of an agreement concluded in August under which the Islamic Republic would release five American citizens it was holding.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, “We will remain vigilant and monitor the spending of these assets, and we have the ability to freeze them again if necessary.”
He stressed that the US Treasury will have “strict supervision” over assets transferred from South Korea to Qatar.
He explained, “We have knowledge of how it is spent, and the ability to control its use.”
These assets are money owed to Iran under the sale of oil to South Korea.
But Seoul has frozen it since the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The administration of President Joe Biden stresses that Iran can use these funds exclusively to purchase food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods that are not covered by US sanctions. However, some officials in Tehran indicated that there are no restrictions on spending these funds.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that Iran will be able to buy “any good that is not subject to sanctions,” not just “medicines and foodstuffs.”
The agreement stipulates the release of these funds in exchange for the release of five Americans of Iranian origin who were detained in the Islamic Republic. Last month, the Iranian authorities transferred them from prison to house arrest outside it, and they are scheduled to leave the country once the frozen funds are transferred to the account in Qatar.
Tehran reported that under the agreement, five Iranians detained in the United States would also be released.
© 2023 AFP
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2023-09-12 22:10:42
