Frozen Iranian funds worth $6 billion have been transferred via Qatar, paving the way for a prisoner swap between the United States and the Islamic Republic, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.
“A plane from Qatar is already in Iran to evacuate five American citizens (who were detained in this country) and two of their relatives to Doha,” according to this Doha-based source who requested anonymity.
“The Iranians and Americans were notified of the transfer from Switzerland to bank accounts in Qatar of the entire six billion dollars,” she added.
Iran confirmed the transfer.
“We received an official letter from Qatar yesterday stating that the accounts of six Iranian banks had been activated,” the governor of the Iranian Central Bank said on state television.
“Today, the equivalent of 5,573,492 euros was deposited into the account of Iranian banks with two Qatari banks,” said Mohammadreza Farzin.
He added that his country intended to take legal action against South Korea for not having allowed Tehran to access these funds and seek damages following their depreciation.
The transfer of these funds has not yet been confirmed by the United States.
The five Americans are to be exchanged for five Iranians detained in the United States, under the terms of an agreement reached through mediation by Doha, the Gulf emirate maintaining good relations with the two countries.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for Iranian diplomacy declared that his country hoped that the exchange of prisoners would take place on Monday with the confirmation of the release of six billion dollars in Iranian funds by South Korea.
“We hope to have confirmation today of the payment of all” of the assets released and that “the exchange of prisoners will take place the same day,” Nasser Kanani indicated during a press conference in Tehran.
The exchange is to take place in Qatar, as Iran and the United States do not have formal diplomatic relations.
“Five Iranian prisoners will be released and, in exchange, five American citizens imprisoned in Iran will be handed over to the American side at their request,” Kanani said.
Appeasement
Among the released Iranians, “two will return to Iran, another will go to a third country where his family lives and the last two will remain” in the United States, according to him.
This arrangement was announced on August 10 as part of an agreement between Tehran and Washington.
Five Americans detained in Iran were then transferred from their prison in August to be placed under house arrest before their transfer to Qatar.
Among them is businessman Siamak Namazi, arrested in 2015 and sentenced to ten years in prison in 2016 for espionage.
Among the five Iranians to be released by the United States are Reza Sarhangpour and Kambiz Attar Kashani, accused of having “diverted American sanctions” against Iran.
In the eyes of certain experts, this agreement concluded after very discreet negotiations demonstrates an easing of tensions between Iran and the United States, but they do not prejudge a possible agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Negotiations led by the Europeans had failed in 2022 to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, moribund since the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018 under the presidency of Donald Trump.
“Strict surveillance”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi is expected in New York on Monday to participate in the UN General Assembly.
On September 13, the White House rejected any notion of “ransom”, as denounced by the Republican opposition to President Joe Biden, with the release of six billion dollars in frozen Iranian funds.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby insisted that this was not a “blank check” offered to Iran and that the use of these funds “for purposes humanitarian purposes” only would be under “strict surveillance”. From the sale of hydrocarbons by Iran, these funds were blocked following American sanctions.
Tehran, for its part, assured that it had the possibility of using this envelope in other ways and not only to buy medicine and food.
After this payment, Iran will no longer have “many resources blocked in other countries,” Mr. Kanani said on Monday. “In Japan, we had a certain amount, but we used a lot of it and the remaining amount is not significant,” he said.