US, Iran give conflicting claims over Hormuz fees - EUROPE SAYS
Bahreini said Iran was the only country that would decide what it uses unblocked funds forImage: Martial Trezzini/KEYSTONE/picture allianceIranhas said it alone will decide how to use billions of dollars in. . .
Bahreini said Iran was the only country that would decide what it uses unblocked funds forImage: Martial Trezzini/KEYSTONE/picture allianceIranhas said it alone will decide how to use billions of dollars in frozen assets due to be released under a deal with the United States. US Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that the assets had not yet been released. He said that if they were unfrozen, they could be used to purchase US goods such as soybeans and would not be allowed to fund terrorism. However, Iranian Ambassador Ali Bahreini told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that Tehran would have sole authority over the funds once they were unfrozen. “Iran is the only country who will decide what to do with its assets, which are going to be defrozen,” he said. “I reject any claim by [Washington] about that there should… be any role for any other country to have an influence on those decisions or on those processes. ”US President Donald Trump doubled down on Tuesday, reiterating Vance’s statements in a social media post. “The Money and/or Sanctions that the US Treasury is releasing goes into escrow, controlled by the USA, and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans from our great American Farmers,” Trump wrote. “These are things that are desperately needed by Iran. This is a humanitarian crisis, and I feel it is necessary to help, NOW, before it is too late. ”Iranian state media reported that Washington had agreed to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds and temporarily ease sanctions on Iranian oil as part of negotiations aimed at ending the conflict. Iran has faced US sanctions and asset freezes for much of the period since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.