Iran’s frozen assets transferred to Swiss central bank: S Korea media
Iranian funds frozen in South Korea were reportedly transferred to Switzerland’s central bank last week for exchange and transfer to Iran.
Citing an unnamed currency market source, South Korea’s Yonhap Infomax said on Monday the Swiss National Bank plans to exchange its $6 billion holdings in won for dollars and then euros in the currency market.
The European bank will convert about 300 billion won ($223.85 million) to 400 billion won each day for the next five weeks.
Last week, the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the process to transfer Iranian assets to a European bank started on August 10 and will be completed in several phases.
He added that the funds will be converted into euros within a few weeks before being deposited into another bank in a regional country.
Iran and the US recently reached a deal to unblock Iran’s funds illegally frozen in South Korea. The agreement also includes the release of prisoners from both sides.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that the US was “forced” to recognize Iran’s rights in this regard.
“The release of Iran’s assets comes at a time when the US tries to block them by imposing unilateral sanctions. However, we forced the United States to pay attention to Iran’s rights through our good diplomatic and legal efforts.”
South Korean banks blocked $6 billion worth of Iran’s assets after former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposed economic sanctions against Tehran. South Korea refused to release them because of fears of facing US penalties.
He added that Tehran is seriously pursuing the release of its assets in Iraq, announcing that part of the process has been completed.