Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that a prisoner exchange deal between the United States and Iran would not stop Tehran's nuclear program and would only help fund Iran's "terror proxies."
The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu's office: "Arrangements that do not dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure do not stop its nuclear program and only provide it with funds that will go to terrorist elements sponsored by Iran."
On Thursday, Iran and the United States agreed to release prisoners and release $6 billion in Iranian funds frozen in South Korea.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the start of releasing Iranian funds frozen in South Korea in implementing the terms of a prisoner exchange agreement with the US.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal quoted people briefed on the matter, saying that Iran has significantly slowed the pace at which it is accumulating near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and has diluted some of its stockpiles.
The newspaper said that Tehran's taking this step could help ease tensions with the US and allow the resumption of broader talks over its controversial nuclear program.
The newspaper pointed out that US and European officials have told Iran that if there is a de-escalation of tensions over the summer, they would be open to broader talks later this year, including on Iran's nuclear program.
The Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reported that Iran's nuclear activities are ongoing without interruption in all areas based on the previous plans of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) in all areas.
The agency quoted an unnamed informed source saying the Parliament's law "the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions" is also being strictly implemented.
White House Spokesman John Kirby said he could not confirm the report but said: "Any steps that Iran might take to slow down enrichment certainly would be welcome."
"We're not in active negotiations about the nuclear program," he added. "But certainly those sorts of steps, if they were to be true, would be welcome."
Kirby said Iran could only access the funds "to buy food, medicine, medical equipment that would not have a dual military use."
“And there will be a rigorous process of due diligence and standards applied with input from the Treasury Department.”
On Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, Mohammad Jamshidi, said that the US prisoners in Iran would leave simultaneously with the release of illegally held Iranians in the US and the complete transfer of frozen Iranian assets in South Korea.
- Seoul releases Iran’s funds
On Saturday, Iran's central bank chief, Mohammad Reza Farzin, said that all of Iran's frozen funds in South Korea had been unblocked and would be used for "non-sanctioned goods.”
Farzin wrote in a post on social media that the funds would be transferred to six Iranian banks in Qatar.
"Congratulations to the foreign exchange diplomacy team for successfully releasing seized foreign currency resources," he said in the post.
He added that the costs of converting the funds from South Korea's won currency to euros would be accepted by the "third country," where the money would be deposited to buy "non-sanctioned goods.”
He said Iran has funds worth nearly $7 billion deposited in South Korean won in its banks over the past years, with no interest paid.
The governor noted that the funds shrunk by nearly $1 billion in value due to the depreciation of the won against the dollar.
South Korea did not confirm or deny the reports about the released funds, but it hoped the issue of the Iranian funds would be resolved smoothly.
"Our government has been closely consulting with involved countries such as the United States and Iran to resolve the frozen fund issue and hopes that the issue will be resolved amicably," the South Korean ministry said.
State-owned ISNA news agency reported that Iran’s sources of foreign currency in several countries will soon be available and will impact the market and trade exchanges.
