Iran is looking to unlock its assets frozen in South Korea due to sanctions imposed by Washington after Tehran allowed the American to leave the country and released his son.
Tehran is demanding the release of about $7 billion owed to it in exchange for oil exports to Seoul, but it is frozen in South Korea based on US sanctions on Iran after the US unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
The possibility of releasing the remnants was raised a day after the UN announced that Tehran had allowed Iranian-American Baqir Namazi to leave its lands and released his son Siamak, convicted of espionage.
The official IRNA news agency, citing unnamed “informed sources,” predicts “the imminent release of $7 billion worth of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea as part of an Iran-America prisoner release deal.”
She added that recent weeks have seen “intense negotiations brokered by a country in the region for the simultaneous release of Iran-America prisoners and billions of dollars of Iranian assets” under a “prisoner release deal.”
Jared Gainser, lawyer for Namazi and his son, confirmed that what has been achieved for them is “major preliminary milestones, but we will not stop until they can return to the United States together and their long nightmare is over.” .”
Baker Namazi, 85, a former United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) employee, was arrested in February 2016 when he traveled to Iran to seek the release of his son Siamak, a businessman arrested in October 2015.
In October they were sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage. The father was released in 2020 without the right to leave Iran, while Siamak remained in prison, and it is likely that his current release is temporary.
Iran has tens of billions of frozen assets due to sanctions that former US President Donald Trump has reintroduced since 2018 following his decision to unilaterally withdraw his country from an international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
These frozen quantities are concentrated in countries such as China, South Korea and Japan.
In January 2021, Tehran accused Seoul of taking its assets “hostage”, while both sides have repeatedly confirmed over the past months that they are negotiating ways to release these assets or allow Tehran to benefit from them in such a way. in a manner that does not violate US regulations. sanctions.
In early 2022, Seoul announced that it was using part of these funds to pay off Tehran’s contributions to the UN budget, which allowed Iran to regain its voting rights in the international organization.
In January of this year, Iran called on South Korea to release assets regardless of the outcome of talks between Tehran and the major powers aimed at resurrecting the 2015 nuclear deal.
IRNA reported that the possibility of asset releases comes at a time when “negotiations to return to the nuclear deal remain fruitless so far due to the Americans’ inability to agree on their political decision,” referring to America’s desire to “get things done.” the issue of the release of a number of its citizens detained in Iran in connection with the release of Iranian assets”, is frozen in South Korea.
Source: AFP.