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Wednesday, April 24, 2024 11:50 GMT
Iran expressed hope on Tuesday that South Korea and Japan would agree to release about US$1 billion of Iranian funds frozen in the two countries because of U.S. sanctions, but South Korea said it still needed to discuss the matter with the United States. Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati had reached preliminary agreements with the ambassadors of Japan and South Korea on the fund releases. “He (Hemmati) has said that it seems that, in a first step, about US$1 billion of foreign exchange resources of the Central Bank of Iran will be provided to us,” Rabiei told a news conference streamed live on a government website.But in Seoul, a South Korean foreign ministry official told reporters: “The actual unfreezing of the assets will be carried out through consultations with related countries, including the United States.”Iran has repeatedly demanded the release of about US$7 billion of its funds frozen in South Korea and US$3 billion in Japan. But Tehran has denied that its seizure of a South Korean ship for alleged environmental pollution on Jan. 4 was linked to the dispute.Iranian officials have sought ways of setting up channels to allow Tehran to use the funds blocked in Japan and South Korea to buy humanitarian goods.
In related front, President of Iran Hassan Rohani lauded the agreements with South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Oman to unfreeze Iranian funds as an omen of the Islamic Republic’s victory against the economic war. In comments at a Tuesday meeting of the Administration’s Economic Coordination Headquarters, Rohani pointed to a report from the governor of the Central Bank of Iran about the agreements reached with South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Oman on the release of the Iranian currency assets, saying the promising signs of the enemy’s failure in its economic war on Iran are beginning to emerge. The futility of sanctions on Iran is becoming clearer, the president noted, saying the Iranian people’s maximum resistance against the full-blown economic war imposed by the enemy is yielding results.“One of the outcomes is the release of the Iranian currency resources blocked illegally and unjustly,” he added, stressing that the unfreezing of the assets will give fresh impetus to the country’s economy. - Tasnim, Reuters