DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s declassified assets abroad will be used to boost domestic production, President Ebrahim Raisi told the semi-official ISNA news agency on Wednesday.
Last week, Iran and Washington reached an agreement under which five American citizens detained in Iran would be released while $6 billion in Iranian assets held in South Korea would be thawed and sent to an account in Qatar that Iran has access to.
US officials have said that Iranian funds will be placed in a restricted account and used for humanitarian purposes, such as buying food or medicine.
As the first step in what may be a complex series of maneuvers, Iran allowed four detained US citizens to be placed on house arrest from Tehran’s Evin Prison, a lawyer for one said. A fifth was already under house arrest.
The United States would release some Iranians from US prisons as part of the deal, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Christina Fincher)
