Assets to be immediately and fully available to Iran: Iranian advisor

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Aug 2023 12:19

Seyyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian senior political analyst, says claims that Iran's access to its unfrozen assets will be restricted comes from those who are unhappy with the new agreement reached between Tehran and Washington.

Seyyed Mohammad Marandi, Iranian senior political advisor

Seyyed Mohammad Marandi confirmed that Iran's restored assets that were unfrozen by South Korea will be immediately available for Tehran after some, in the West, claimed that Iran's access to its assets will be limited.

According to Marandi, the false claims were made by those unhappy with the rightful unfreezing of Iran's assets. The Iranian senior political analyst and media advisor to the nuclear negotiations team in Vienna also stated that Qatar and its companies will not have access to the assets noting that Iranian banks will have full control of the assets.

Iran will be able to make goods and services purchases without any restrictions as the Iranian Foreign Ministry stressed that the use of these assets will be determined by Tehran.

In turn, Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, underscored that US prisoners, who are set to be swapped as part of the most recent agreement between Washington and Tehran, will remain in Iran until all the frozen assets get transferred to Iranian banks.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday in response to widespread media reports about a potential prisoner swap agreement between Iran and the US, which includes the release of these funds.

The statement assured that Iran has received adequate guarantees for the US's commitment to fulfilling its obligations regarding the funds. The ministry emphasized that the release of these funds has always been a priority and that they had been unlawfully blocked due to concerns from overseas banks related to US sanctions.

Reports indicate that the release of these funds is part of a broader prisoner exchange deal between Iran and the US, where both sides would release several detainees held by each other.

In addition to the fund release, the Foreign Ministry has been actively pursuing the release of Iranian prisoners as part of its inherent duties. These prisoners were arrested under the pretext of violating US sanctions and have been held in US prisons.

The statement affirmed that the release of these prisoners is imminent and noted that those designated for release by the US are still on Iranian soil. However, reports suggest that the release of the detainees is contingent upon the transfer of Iranian funds to specific accounts designated by Iran.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, also confirmed through a tweet on Thursday that the process of releasing the funds is underway and that the impending release of Iranians detained by the US will occur within the same framework.