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US, Iran Differ over Tehran’s Frozen Assets

A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
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US, Iran Differ over Tehran’s Frozen Assets

A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)

Tehran accused the US administration of waging a “psychological war,” a day after Washington denied releasing $3.5 billion of Iran’s frozen funds abroad.

“The United States has not released any money to Iran. Any such report to the contrary is incorrect,” State Department spokesman Ned Price affirmed.

“We also understand that our partners have not transferred frozen funds to Iran, not even South Korea,” he stressed.

“And of course, the US has not authorized or approved any such frozen transfers to Iran. All of our current sanctions remain in effect. They will remain in effect until and unless we’re able to reach a diplomatic agreement,” in Vienna.

Price’s remarks, which coincide with a new round of talks in the Austrian capital, are part of a “psychological war” against Iran, state TV quoted an informed source as saying.

These remarks “will not affect what has actually happened,” the source added.

One of the countries will soon release the frozen assets under the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump’s administration on Iranian oil sales, deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari said on Thursday.

He added that $3.5 billion of Iranian assets have been released, noting that the government had requested other countries to release larger numbers

“Fruitful negotiations were held in this regard,” Safari confirmed, while declining to reveal the amount discussed.

In mid-November, the Central Bank said one billion dollars from the released funds would be allotted for the import of “essential goods.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian rial currency dipped last week but remained above historic lows after news that talks with world powers to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear accord may have run into difficulties.

The US dollar was selling for as much as 302,200 rials on the unofficial market on Saturday, up from 294,000 on Friday.

In October 2020, the rial hit a record low of about 320,000 to a dollar as a drop in oil prices deepened the economic crisis in the country already reeling under US sanctions and the highest COVID-19 death toll in the Middle East.

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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
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Floods Displace 122,000 People in Malaysia

File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)
File photo: People walk past cars partially submerged in floodwaters in Shah Alam, Selangor on December 21, 2021, as Malaysia faces massive floods that have left at least 14 dead and more than 70,000 displaced. (AFP)

More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia's northern states, disaster officials said Saturday.
The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country's worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours.
The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak.
Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people displaced, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were nearly 35,000 people evacuated in Terengganu, with the rest of the displacements reported from seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began early this week, continued to hammer Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where people could be seen walking through streets inundated with hip-deep waters.
"My area has been flooded since Wednesday. The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside," Pasir Puteh resident and school janitor Zamrah Majid, 59, told AFP.
"Luckily, I moved my two cars to a higher ground before the water level rose."
She said she allowed her grandchildren to play in the water in front of his house because it was still shallow.
"But if the water gets higher, it would be dangerous, I'm afraid they might get swept away," she added.
"I haven't received any assistance yet, whether it's welfare or other kinds of help."
Muhammad Zulkarnain, 27, who is living with his parents in Pasir Puteh, said they were isolated.
"There's no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighbourhood," he told AFP.
"Of course I'm scared... Luckily we have received some assistance from NGOs, they gave us food supplies like biscuits, instant noodles, and eggs."
Floods are an annual phenomenon in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March.
Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed in flood-prone states along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee.