According to official media, Iran is awaiting the release of roughly $7 billion in money that have been frozen abroad after allowing an Iranian-American to depart and releasing his son from custody.
According to a statement made by the UN on Saturday, Baquer Namazi, 85, was given permission to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, while his son Siamak, 50, was freed from custody in Tehran.
Iran’s banned resources worth $7 billion will be released once discussions between Iran and the United States to free their respective inmates are concluded, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Since the US reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran in 2018 after issuing a unilateral withdrawal from the country’s nuclear agreement with other world powers, billions of dollars in Iranian cash have been blocked in a number of nations, most notably China, South Korea, and Japan.
Iran has repeatedly urged South Korean authorities to release the $7 billion that Seoul is allegedly keeping “hostage.”
According to IRNA, Washington is pursuing both the release of Iranian funds in South Korea and the release of its individuals who are held in Tehran at the same time.
The news comes as talks to resuscitate the 2015 agreement, which offered Iran much-needed reprieve from sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme, have been ongoing on-and-off since April 2021.
Iran has consistently demanded the removal of sanctions and reassurances that the US won’t back out of a resurrected deal.
When Baquer Namazi travelled to Iran in February 2016 to demand the release of his son Siamak, who had been detained in October of the previous year, he was arrested. Baquer Namazi is a former UNICEF official.
In October 2016, both were found guilty of espionage and given 10-year prison terms.
The father was released on medical leave in 2018 and had been serving his sentence under house arrest.
