Iran Says its Released Assets Abroad Will Be Used for Domestic Output 

06 August 2023, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry (not pictured) during their meeting. (Iranian Presidency Office/dpa)
06 August 2023, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry (not pictured) during their meeting. (Iranian Presidency Office/dpa)
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Iran Says its Released Assets Abroad Will Be Used for Domestic Output 

06 August 2023, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry (not pictured) during their meeting. (Iranian Presidency Office/dpa)
06 August 2023, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry (not pictured) during their meeting. (Iranian Presidency Office/dpa)

Iran's released assets abroad will be used to enhance domestic production, President Ebrahim Raisi was quoted as saying on Wednesday by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Last week, Iran and Washington reached an agreement whereby five US citizens detained in Iran would be released while $6 billion of Iranian assets in South Korea would be unfrozen and sent to an account in Qatar that Iran could access.

US officials have said Iranian funds will be put in a restricted account and used for humanitarian purposes such as buying food or medicine.

As a first step in what may be a complex set of maneuvers, Iran allowed four detained US citizens to move into house arrest from Tehran's Evin prison, a lawyer for one said. A fifth was already under home confinement.

The United States would release some Iranians from US prisons as part of the deal, Iran's mission to the United Nations said.



EU Calls on Iran to Engage Seriously in Diplomatic Process

Flags of the European Union and its member states fly in front of the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Flags of the European Union and its member states fly in front of the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
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EU Calls on Iran to Engage Seriously in Diplomatic Process

Flags of the European Union and its member states fly in front of the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Flags of the European Union and its member states fly in front of the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

The European Union called on Iran "to engage seriously in a credible diplomatic process", an EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said on Tuesday.

"This escalation benefits no one, and everybody is concerned by the same thing, which is the spillover effect," El Anouni said.

Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump to end their 12-day war that roiled the Middle East, after Tehran launched a limited, retaliatory missile attack on a US military base in Qatar.