US Allows Int’l Banks to Release $6 Billion in Frozen Iranian Funds

By Staff, Agencies

The US administration has issued a waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of US sanctions.

The report released early Tuesday by AP said the Biden administration has also agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States.

It added that Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanction’s waivers late last week, a month after US and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place on the issue.

The waiver means that European, Middle Eastern and Asian banks will not be in violation of US sanctions in converting Iran's money, which was frozen in South Korea, and transferring it to Qatar’s central bank, where it will be held for Tehran to be used for the purchase of non-sanctioned goods.

Due to numerous US sanctions, several European countries were not willing to take part in the transfer. Blinken’s waiver is aimed at easing their concerns about any risk of US sanctions and applies to banks and other financial institutions in South Korea, Germany, Ireland, Qatar and Switzerland.

Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, roundly dismissed the notion that Iran has agreed to release the American prisoners in order to have access to its assets.

He noted that the Islamic Republic entered negotiations with the American side about the exchange of prisoners only because it supports its citizens who have been jailed in the US on bogus charges.