The blocking of the 6 billion that the US made available to Iran as part of the agreement to release five American citizens has become an enigma. During the afternoon, a leak to The Washington Post indicated that the Treasury Department had reached an agreement with Qatar to freeze the funds. However, just hours later, the Ayatollah Regime denied this report and Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, pointed out that Iran continued to have access to that money exclusively for "humanitarian purposes," although he stressed that "we reserve the right to freeze that account."
Should have never been released in the first place.
Biden officials got hosed in their initial deal. https://t.co/XeCLtNERVd
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) October 12, 2023
According to the Washington Post, the Treasury would have frozen the 6 billion
According to the Washington Post, the information about the freezing of the 6 billion was transmitted to Democratic legislators that same day. "Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, told House Democrats on Thursday, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private remarks."
Specifically, according to this outlet, "Adeyemo told House Democrats that the money “isn’t going anywhere anytime soon,” according to three House Democratic aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations."
Blinken says Iran can continue using the money
However, Secretary of State Blinken noted in an interview on NBC that "the money in question, is Iranian money, not American taxpayer dollars, it is money that was allowed to accrue in a bank account from the sale of Iranian oil." According to Blinken, this money was always available to the Iranians in a South Korean account, but they could not access the money due to technical problems. "what we did is we moved the money from one account in South Korea, to another account in Qatar, where the money could actually be used, but under the supervision of our Treasury Department, and only for humanitarian purposes," he said.
However, Blinken wanted to highlight that "not a dollar of that money has been spent to date." In addition, the Secretary of State assured that "we reserve the right to freeze that account."
Iran denies the information and assures that the money "rightfully belongs to it"
Iran also denied The Washington Post's publication. "The news is devoid of veracity, the publication of which would tarnish the Washington Post’s credibility," said the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA. The note adds that "the money rightfully belongs to the people of Iran, earmarked for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to facilitate the acquisition of all essential and non-sanctioned requisites for the Iranians."
