Some experts believe the deal signifies an easing of tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Iran freed five US citizens in a prison exchange on Monday, following the release of $6 billion dollars (€5.6 billion) in frozen Iranian funds.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Americans – four men and one woman – are now reportedly flying back to the states, via Qatar, where they will be met by senior US officials.
Five Iranians imprisoned in the US, mainly on charges of violating US sanctions, were also part of the swap. Not all of them are expected to return to Iran.
A precondition of the controversial exchange was the release of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea. The money was transferred from Switzerland to bank accounts in Qatar and then given to the Iranians.
Iran has confirmed the transfer.
“Today, the equivalent of 5,573,492,000 euros has been deposited in Iranian bank accounts with two Qatari banks,” said Mohammadreza Farzin, governor of Iran’s Central Bank.
His country had intended to take South Korea to court for not having allowed Tehran access to the funds and to claim damages following their depreciation, he added.
The US citizens reportedly freed include businessmen Siamak Namazi, imprisoned for nearly eight years in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, and Emad Shargi, as well as environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who also holds British citizenship.
The deal was brokered by Doha, reportedly involving nine fraught rounds of talks.
Washington claims its citizens were behind bars due to baseless charges, believing Tehran wanted to use them as political leverage.
Iran’s diplomatic spokesman Nasser Kanani told reporters in Teheran two of the Iranians released “will return to Iran, one will go to a third country where his family lives and the last two will stay” in the US.
The swap has courted controversy over what Tehran will do with the funds and whether Washington should engage with the regime.
ADVERTISEMENTIran’s security services brutally suppressed a protest movement last year, which was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Monday’s prisoner swape was announced on 10 August, with the five US citizens transferred from prison to house arrest in advance earlier that month.
Freed businessman Namazi was arrested in Iran in 2015 and sentenced to ten years in prison in 2016 for espionage.
Iranian officials insist they will spend the unfrozen funds however they please. Yet sources involved in the deal claim the money will be tightly controlled.
Some experts say the agreement testifies to an easing of tensions between Iran and Washington, though the two remain at loggerheads over the Iranian nuclear issue.
ADVERTISEMENTEuropean-led negotiations failed in 2022 to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, moribund since the US unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under President Donald Trump.
The Iranian regime is under increasing economic pressure, with its currency losing more than 90% of its value over the last decade, according to The Economist.
Source: Euro News
