Iran’s President Raisi urges Japan to release frozen funds

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, called on Japan on Tuesday to release Tehran’s frozen assets worth around $1.5 billion. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was talking to a Japanese reporter about the frozen funds. He told the reporter, “Japan should act independently from the United States by releasing our blocked funds.”

Later on, he contradicted himself by saying that “our Central Bank said we only had unjustly frozen funds in South Korea. All other assets abroad are at the disposal of Iran’s Central Bank.”

Earlier this month, Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said that his country was pursuing the release of Iranian funds frozen in Japan because of the United States sanctions. He also said that the Japanese government was ready to repatriate the frozen assets.

Reportedly, Iran holds tens of billions of dollars worth of funds in foreign banks. Iran has funds in banks in South Korea, Iraq, People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of India. However, Iran cannot access the funds because of US sanctions.

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Agreement between Tehran and Washington

Recently, the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran reached an agreement on Iranian assets frozen in South Korea. The Iranian authorities agreed to release five U.S. citizens in exchange for $6 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea.

Earlier this month, Iran freed four U.S. citizens from Tehran’s Evin prison. The Iranian authorities moved them into house arrest. Another U.S. citizen was already under home confinement.

Iran will allow them to leave the country after receiving the money.

Various Iranian officials have repeatedly demanded to release the funds blocked in Japan and South Korea. 

US impose sanctions on Iran

The United States reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2018 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. Iran has faced various U.S. sanctions since 2018. 

Earlier this year, the United States imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting the country’s oil and petrochemical sales. The United States also imposed sanctions on Iran, claiming that Tehran supplied Moscow with drones to be used against Ukraine.

In June, Ebrahim Raisi slammed the US sanctions in a meeting with Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua. He said, “The US wanted to paralyze our people with threats and sanctions.”