TEHRAN - Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has expressed hope that the recent prisoner swap deal facilitated by Doha between Iran and the U.S. would lead to a better environment between Iran and the U.S.

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Al-Thani took pride in the role Qatar played in securing the prisoner swap deal between Iran and the U.S.

Responding to a question on whether the deal could mark a rapprochement in U.S.-Iranian relations, the Qatari prime minister struck an optimistic note, saying, “I cannot claim that this will lead to a nuclear deal, but it’s going definitely to lead to a better environment.”

“What happened yesterday actually was a great building block for rebuilding the confidence between the two countries,” he said.

He added, “I hope both countries believe that this will lead to a better environment to go for an entire agreement on the nuclear issue, and any other outstanding issue.”

On Monday, Iran and the United States swapped prisoners simultaneously. Also, Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks were unblocked and deposited in Qatari banks. 

Oman and Qatar helped mediate the release of prisoners and funds. On Wednesday, the foreign ministry of Oman issued a statement welcoming the new deal between Tehran and Washington. 

Oman expressed appreciation for “the great cooperation shown by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America with the efforts made by the Sultanate of Oman and the sisterly State of Qatar in this regard.”

“The Sultanate hopes that positive steps will continue in a way that preserves the stability of the region and consolidates the principles of international peace and security,” the statement further said. 

The South Korean government has also predicted that the release of Iran’s frozen funds will lead to further improvement of relations between Tehran and Seoul.

“The Korean government anticipates that the transfer of the funds will help further develop the bilateral relationship between Korea and Iran in the future,” the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement. 

The statement also confirmed the release of Iranian funds.

“The Iranian funds that were frozen in Korea due to the financial sanctions on Iran have recently been successfully transferred to a third country through close cooperation among the relevant nations,” the South Korean statement said.

The U.S. prisoners have arrived in the U.S. and two of the Iranian prisoners returned home simultaneously. Two remained in the U.S. while the fifth prisoner left for a third country. Iran and the U.S. swapped five prisoners each.