In an interview in Tehran with the US TV channel NBC NEWS, President Ebrahim Raeisi suggested that the Americans held in Iran would be released soon, saying that the US-Iran prisoner exchange deal would be completed in “due time” and that the American detainees were in “very healthy” condition.
As part of the recent agreement between Iran and the United States to exchange prisoners, Tehran will be granted access to the roughly $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues that were blocked in South Korean banks because of US sanctions.
According to the American TV channel website, Raeisi said that Iran would have “authority” over how the funds would be spent.
“This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money,” he said.
Asked if the money would be used for other purposes apart from humanitarian needs, Raeisi said, “Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people need, so this money will be budgeted for those needs…”
Iran has said that it has done the prisoner swap to release its own prisoners illegally held in the United States. As per the prisoner swap, Washington will release five Iranian citizens held illegally in the US.
MNA/PR
