Iran To Get $7 Billion Of Frozen Funds In Prisoner Swap Deal With US - IRNA

Iran’s official government news agency confirmed Sunday that Tehran will receive $7 billion of its frozen funds for a prisoner exchange deal with the United States.

IRNA confirmed on Sunday that a prisoner swap deal has been finalized between Tehran and Washington, according to which Iran’s blocked money in South Korea well be released. The report, however, did not mention the name of the Iranian(s) who are supposed to be freed.

On Saturday, reports said that an Iranian-American hostage, Siamak Namazi was released from Tehran’s Evin prison in a one-week renewable furlough. Namazi has spent 7 years in jail on Trumped-up espionage charges. His father Baquer Namazi who went to Iran to free his son in 2016 was also arrested and accused of espionage, but later freed from prison on medical grounds and now has been allowed to leave Iran. 

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced about Namazis in a statement on Saturday. 

Iran's Nour news said Saturday that the deal is the result of intensive negotiations in recent weeks with the mediation of a regional country regarding the simultaneous release of Iranian and American prisoners. Iran had earlier claimed that the $7 billion would be freed in exchange for the release of three American dual citizens.

Nuclear negotiations since April 2021 between Tehran and Washington are stalled, and a prisoner deal could be a positive signal for a resolution, but Washington has not confirmed the Iranian claims.