Iran obtained ‘guarantees’ from US on unfrozen funds
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the country had obtained “guarantees” from the United States on its unfrozen funds in Qatar banks.
The plan to block Iran’s money needs the approval of the Senate and the signature of the US president. The US government must honor its commitments in an agreement with Iran. “We received the necessary guarantees in this regard as the US has shown that it is not reliable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, according to Press TV.
He was responding to a question about a bipartisan measure passed by the US House of Representatives to block Iran from accessing its $6 billion funds unfrozen in South Korea and transferred to Qatari banks a few months ago.
Kanaani emphasized that the Iranian government has access to the funds, saying, “We can use them according to our needs.”
The Thursday bill passed 307-119 as the voters sought to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they call their complicity in funding terrorism in the Middle East.
Back in August, Iran and the United States agreed to a Qatari-brokered deal to secure the release of some $6 billion of Iranian funds that had remained blocked in two South Korean banks since 2018, under the pretext of US sanctions. The deal eventually saw the release of five detained Americans in Tehran and an unknown number of Iranians imprisoned in the US.
The money was successfully transferred to accounts in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.