The US says it wants to be “vigilant” over Iran’s use of the $6 billion frozen in South Korea, which will be released as part of the mutual prisoner exchange agreement with Tehran.
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“We will remain vigilant, we will monitor the use of these funds and we will have the ability to freeze them again if necessary,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, specifying that the Treasury Department has the upper hand and has the resources going to monitor these means.
“We will have transparency about their use and the means to monitor this money,” he added to the press in Washington.
The United States confirmed on Monday that it would authorize the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds to South Korea under the agreement reached in August.
According to Washington, Iran only has the right to use that $6 billion for humanitarian purchases such as food and medicine.
However, Tehran reiterated on Monday that it has the ability to purchase “all goods not sanctioned by the US” and “fully use these released funds,” not just to buy “medicines and food.”
For its part, the Republican opposition to President Joe Biden denounced a “ransom” to a state that Washington considers to support terrorism, which the spokesman refuted: “The United States gives nothing to Iran and pays nothing.” It’s money .’
He said the funds would be transferred to bank accounts in Qatar through European intermediary banks, which were initially reluctant to participate.
Due to US sanctions against Iran, such transactions are effectively banned, which explains the exemptions granted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to release Iranian funds.
The Biden administration acknowledged it had made “difficult decisions,” stressing that its priority was freeing Americans and that the money previously belonged to Iran.
The spokesman also refrained from setting a timetable for the exchange of prisoners – five American citizens imprisoned in Iran for five Iranians imprisoned in the United States – but indicated that it would not take place “as soon as this week.”
Under the agreement, Tehran placed five American detainees of Iranian origin under house arrest ahead of their expected transfer to Qatar, possibly parallel to next week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York, which was scheduled to be attended by Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi.