Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday local time that it is taking steps to free its assets that were illegally frozen in South Korean banks for years by the United States.
The ministry went on to explain that Iran has received assurances from the United States that the release of several Iranians illegally detained in the United States is in this context.
In a related development, the White House National Security Council, or NSC, also issued a statement on behalf of its spokesperson, announcing that five Americans wrongfully detained in Iran have been released from prison and placed under house arrest.
[Tony Blinken/US Secretary of State: “The funds will be transferred to available accounts and used, as you know, only for humanitarian purposes that are consistent with our sanctions.”]
Earlier, Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations as saying that five prisoners in the US would be exchanged for five prisoners in Iran.
[Hossein Amir Abdullahian/Iranian Foreign Minister/8:00 p.m. ET: “The exchange of prisoners is a matter of humanitarian dimension without preconditions. We have conveyed to the mediating countries that we are ready for an exchange within a mutually agreed framework.”]
Local U.S. media reported that South Korean commercial banks had agreed to move up to $7 billion deposited in the name of the Central Bank of Iran to an account with the mediating country, Qatar, for the Iranian government to withdraw.
For now, analysts say the agreement between the U.S. and Iran has given a green light to bilateral ties, as the issue of frozen funds, 먹튀검증토토사이트 one of the biggest stumbling blocks in South Korea-Iran relations, has been resolved after four years.
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