The US inmates will stay in Iran until all of the billions of dollars in frozen Iranian cash are transferred, according to a tweet from Iran’s vice president for political affairs.
According to Mohammad Jamshidi, the process of unfreezing the Islamic Republic’s finances in South Korea has also begun after the Iranian assets in Iraq were released.
The US and Iran previously agreed to exchange prisoners in exchange for the US releasing Iranian assets that had been frozen in South Korea and Iraq.
According to some sources, Iran can only use the money for humanitarian causes, but Tehran will decide how to use the monies, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Western observers claim Iran will not have direct access to the funds and they will be deposited in a bank account in Qatar and will be used to pay for buying unbanned goods and services for Iran.
However, a key adviser to the Iranian delegation during the JCPOA revival negotiations disputes this. Tehran will get immediate access to its assets that have been blocked by the US for numerous years, according to a tweet from Mohammad Marandi.
