The U.S. has lifted the freeze on Iran’s crude oil exports, which it transferred from a South Korean bank to a Qatari bank, in negotiations with Iran to exchange prisoners.
The Washington Post and Bloomberg News reported that U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo met with House Democrats on the 12th local time and said the U.S. and Qatari governments agreed to prevent Iran from using $6 billion (about 8 trillion won) deposited in Qatari banks.
Adeyemo reportedly told lawmakers that “the money is not going anywhere for a while.”
The money was previously frozen on condition of the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran last month after being tied to Korea because of U.S. sanctions against Iran for the money Iran received after exporting crude oil to Korea.
The money was transferred to a bank in Qatar, and the U.S. made Iran use it only for humanitarian purposes, including food and medicine purchases, with U.S. approval.
But Hamas, which has been backed by Iran, has attacked Israel, prompting calls from U.S. Republicans to freeze the funds again, criticizing the Biden administration’s appeasement policy toward Iran.
The Biden administration protested that the money could only be used for humanitarian purposes under strict U.S. surveillance and that Iran has yet to spend a penny, but even Democrats joined to call for a re-freezing.
In response, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby also avoided direct confirmation at a briefing, but said, “The entire money is still in the bank of Qatar, and not a single dime has been used.”
Kirby also added, “The U.S. is watching the money very closely.”
The Washington Post said that breaking the Biden administration’s hard-won agreement with Iran over the years and banning the use of Iranian funds could have a great geopolitical repercussion, adding that Hamas’s terrorism is re-forming relations between countries in the region and the United States.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the money was “rightfully owned by the Iranian people as money designated for the Iranian government to use to purchase all non-sanctioned necessities for the Iranian people.”
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
