US-Iran Agreement "Transfer of South Korea's Frozen Funds to Switzerland" (Comprehensive)

According to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency on the 11th (local time), approximately 8 trillion won of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea have been transferred to a Swiss bank following the negotiation settlement between the United States and Iran.

The agency cited sources saying that access has finally been secured to over $10 billion (about 13.2 trillion won) in funds (proceeds from crude oil exports) that had been illegally frozen in bank accounts in South Korea and Iraq under the pretext of complying with U.S. sanctions.

It was reported that the funds seized by the United States have been released following the negotiation settlement, including $6 billion (about 8 trillion won) frozen in South Korea and a significant amount frozen in the Trade Bank of Iraq.

Following the negotiation settlement, the Iranian funds in South Korea were transferred to a bank in Switzerland, currently held in euros, and are ready to be remitted to an account at the Qatar Central Bank.

Iran has released five Americans detained in its prisons under house arrest. Local Iranian media reported that the American detainees have been moved to a third location outside the prison for prisoner exchange, and that the detainees will be released only after confirmation that the funds frozen in South Korea have been transferred to the Qatar account. Qatar is known to have played a mediator role along with Switzerland and Oman in the negotiations between the United States and Iran.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, analysis suggests that this agreement implementation signals a shift in the atmosphere surrounding the restoration talks of Iran's nuclear deal. The New York Times (NYT) interpreted, "This prisoner exchange agreement raises prospects for diplomatic cooperation, including the Biden administration's long-standing goal of restoring the Iran nuclear deal."

Earlier, high-level discussions for the release of detainees and resumption of nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran began in New York in December last year, and since then, White House officials reportedly visited Oman at least three times for additional contacts, according to a report by the U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

In conjunction with these moves, U.S. authorities approved payment of 2.5 billion euros for electricity and gas imported by the Iraqi government from Iran in June.

With the United States and Iran maintaining a dialogue atmosphere, the issue of frozen funds in South Korea, one of the obstacles to negotiations, has been resolved for the time being.

Henry Rome, senior researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, evaluated, "The negotiations between the United States and Iran represent significant progress in efforts by both countries to ease tensions ahead of the expected resumption of nuclear deal restoration talks at the end of the year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.