Prisoners in Qatar
DOHA/ISLAMABAD: The United States and Iran exchanged prisoners in Qatar on Monday. The exchange involves a $6 billion deal which will be given back to Iran. South Korea froze $6 billion of Iran’s exports after the US sanctions on Iran.
The five Americans freed by Iran included a businessman. Iranians arrested him in 2015. The American prisoners landed in Doha on a Qatari jet, hours after the unblocked funds were credited to Iranian accounts in Qatari banks.
The five were greeted on the tarmac before walking in the setting sun to a terminal building, three of them with their arms around each otherโs shoulders.
One of the US prisoners (freed on Monday) praised US President Joe Biden for taking the โincredibly difficult decisionsโ that freed them.
โThank you President Biden for ultimately putting the lives of American citizens above politics,โ Siamak Namazi said in a statement.
Meanwhile, two of the Iranian detainees arrived in Qatar. The other three released by the United States have opted to remain there or in a third country.
The trigger for the exchange was the release of the $6 billion in funds, frozen by US ally South Korea under sanctions against Iran.
US and Iran to free each other’s prisoners
Earlier, international media reported that
ran and the United States will free five prisoners each involving the transfer of $6 billion frozen assets to Iran.
The United States and Iran have already signed an agreement to swap prisoners. As a reward, the Iranian government will get back its $6 billion blocked in South Korea due to sanctions.
According to analysts, the deal will ease tension between the United States and Iran over economic sanctions.
Iranโs President Ebrahim Raisi said Tehran would decide what to do with the funds of $6 billion. Raisi stated this in an interview with a private TV channel.
โ[It] belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money,โ Raisi told NBC Nightly News in an interview recorded in Tehran.
The US says, that once in Qatar, the released fund will be held in restricted accounts. The US said that the money would only be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food.
