TEHRAN- The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that €5.573 billion of the country’s frozen assets has been unblocked.

Mohammadreza Farzin announced the deposit of €5.573 billion from Iran's blocked resources to the accounts of six Iranian banks in Al-Ahli and Dukhan banks in Qatar

Speaking in a TV program, the official said that on August 10 of this year, all inaccessible Iranian funds that were kept in South Korean banks and the Seoul branch of Bank Mellat were transferred to the account of the Swiss Central Bank to be converted into euros.

He stated that during this period, Keshavarzi, Saman, Pasargad, Tourism, Shahr, and Karafarin banks opened accounts in the two mentioned Qatari banks, and added: “According to the agreements, all payments were made by brokers of Qatari banks as well as SWIFT.”

“Yesterday we received an official letter from the Qatari authorities that six bank accounts have been activated and today 5.573 million euros were deposited into the bank accounts”, Farzin announced.

S. Korea taking necessary measures to transfer Iran’s frozen money

Efforts are underway to transfer Iran's funds that had been frozen in South Korea, after Teheran reached a deal with the United States to release American citizens in return for freeing Iranian assets, the Asian country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it is working with all parties on the deal "to ensure smooth progress of all procedures so that it will be resolved once and for all."

Based on the reached deal, the five Americans, with dual nationality are expected to leave Tehran and head to Qatar's capital Doha and then from there fly to the United States, sources previously told Reuters.

The United States and Iran reached an agreement last month for the release of five U.S. citizens detained in Iran while $6 billion of Iranian assets in South Korea would be unfrozen.

The assets that had been frozen in South Korea were transferred to Switzerland's central bank in August for exchange and transfer to Iran, South Korean media reported.

The financial dispute between Iran and South Korea dates back to 2018, when the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and started slapping economic sanctions on Iran. Before 2018, South Korea had been the third-largest buyer of Iranian oil and the top customer of Iranian condensates. The oil trade between Tehran and Seoul resulted in the accumulation of some seven billion dollars in Iranian oil revenues in South Korean banks.

With tensions between Tehran and Washington exacerbating, Seoul moved to block the Iranian funds for fear of falling afoul of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

EF/MA

Photo: CBI Governor Mohammadreza Farzin