LONDON: Iran鈥檚 central bank chief said on Saturday that all of Iran鈥檚 frozen funds in South Korea had been unblocked and would be used for 鈥渘on-sanctioned goods.鈥�
Mohammad Reza Farzin鈥檚 post on social media appeared to confirm comments a day earlier by Washington, which said there would be restrictions on what Iran could do with any funds unfrozen under an emerging deal that has led to the release of five Americans from prison to house arrest in Tehran.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said Iran could only access the funds 鈥渢o buy food, medicine, medical equipment that would not have a dual military use.鈥� An estimated $6 billion in Iranian assets have been held in South Korea.
The five Americans will be allowed to leave Iran once the funds are unfrozen, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Farzin wrote in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the funds would be transferred to six Iranian banks in Qatar.
鈥淐ongratulations to the foreign exchange diplomacy team for successfully releasing seized foreign currency resources,鈥� he said in the post.
He added that the costs of converting the funds from South Korea鈥檚 won currency to euros would be accepted by the 鈥渢hird country鈥� where the money would be deposited to buy 鈥渘on-sanctioned goods.鈥�