Iran and the United States are scheduled to exchange prisoners on Monday after about $6 billion frozen in South Korea arrived in Qatar, officials said, a key element of the exchange plan. .
The planned exchange comes just ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
However, this exchange does not mean that tensions between the US and Iran have eased, with Iran enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Qanani first confirmed on Monday that the exchange would take place. He said the cash sought for the exchange is currently in Qatar.
A person with direct knowledge of the deal spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the exchange had not yet been concluded, and later said both Iranian and U.S. officials said funds from Qatar were transferred from Switzerland to Switzerland. He said he was informed of this. Gulf Arab nation.
Mr. Kanani made the comments at a news conference broadcast on state television, but the feed cut out immediately after he spoke without explanation.
“We have seen some Iranian assets frozen in several countries, including South Korea,” Kanani said.
“As part of our proactive foreign policy, we are fortunate to have Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea released and, God willing, starting today, the assets will begin to be fully controlled by our government and nation. ”
“Speaking of the prisoner exchange, it will take place today and five prisoners who are citizens of the Islamic Republic will be released from US prisons,” Qanani added.
“The five nationals held in Iranian custody will be reciprocally handed over to the US side in accordance with their wills. We look forward to the full implementation of these two issues in accordance with the agreement. doing.”
He said two of the Iranian prisoners will remain in the United States.
Immediately afterwards, Iranian news agencies reported, citing Qanani, that the prisoner exchange would take place on Monday. There was no other information immediately released by the agency, and the Washington government declined to comment.
However, a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 landed on Monday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, where previous prisoner releases had taken place, according to flight tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press. Qatar Airways uses Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport for commercial flights.
Qanani’s announcement comes as Iran is currently placing five Iranian-Americans under house arrest as part of a confidence-building effort, with the South Korean government allowing them to convert frozen assets held in South Korean won to euros. It took place a few weeks later.
The money was then sent to Qatar, Tehran and Washington’s negotiating partner.
The exchange comes amid a major U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, which could see U.S. troops board and guard commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
The deal also gives President Joe Biden a boost from Republican lawmakers who say his administration is helping boost Iran’s economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to the U.S. military and allies in the Middle East. exposed to new criticism. That could carry over into his re-election campaign.
For its part, Washington said the planned exchange also included Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges that were criticized internationally. . Venture capitalist Emad Shargi sentenced to 10 years in prison. And Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-British-American conservationist who was arrested in 2018 and also sentenced to 10 years.
U.S. authorities have so far refused to identify the fourth and fifth prisoners.
Most of the five prisoners Iran said it was looking for are being held on suspicion of trying to export goods to Iran.
Depending on exchange rates, the final amount from Seoul could be between $6 billion and $7 billion.
The cash represents money that South Korea owed but had not yet paid to Iran for oil it bought before the Trump administration imposed sanctions on such deals in 2019.
The United States insists that funds that arrive in Qatar are kept in restricted accounts and can only be used for humanitarian supplies such as medicine and food.
These deals are currently allowed under U.S. sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Iranian officials generally agree with this explanation, but some hardliners insist, without providing evidence, that there are no restrictions on how Tehran can spend the money.
Iran and the United States have a history of prisoner exchanges dating back to the takeover of the U.S. embassy and hostage crisis following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The most recent major exchange occurred in 2016 when Iran reached an agreement with world powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
At the time, four American prisoners of war, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, were flown home from Iran, and several Iranians living in the United States won their freedom. The same day, President Barack Obama’s administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
Iran has faced international criticism for targeting people with dual citizenship. Western countries have accused Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, a claim the Iranian government rejects.
Negotiations over a large-scale prisoner exchange stalled in 2018, when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal. Tensions escalated the following year with a series of attacks and seizures of ships blamed on Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program is now closer to weapons-grade than ever before. The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says Iran currently has enough enriched uranium to make “several” bombs, but if Iran decides to do so, it could build the weapon and put it on a missile. He warned that further downsizing would likely take many more months. Pursue one thing.
U.S. intelligence maintains its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
Iran has taken steps in recent months to resolve several issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But progress on the plan has led to fears of a wider regional conflagration, as nuclear-armed Israel has said it will not allow Tehran to develop a bomb. Israel has bombed both Iraq and Syria to thwart their nuclear programs, but the threat is even more significant because it is also suspected of carrying out a series of targeted killings of Iranian nuclear scientists.
Iran is also supplying Russia with bomb-laden drones that Russia uses to target positions in Ukraine in the Kiev war, which has become another major conflict between Tehran and Washington. ing.
