ALBAWABA - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday during a press conference that the process of releasing U.S. prisoners held in Iran will take up to two months.
“A specific time frame has been announced by relevant authorities, and it will take a maximum of two months for this process to take place,” Kanaani said.
Earlier this month, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement under which five US Americans detained in Iran would be released in exchange for the release of $6 billion in Iranian assets frozen in South Korea.
Iranian assets that had been frozen in South Korea were transferred last week to Switzerland's central bank for exchange and transfer to Iran, according to South Korean media on Monday.
The Swiss National Bank plans to exchange its $6 billion holdings in won for dollars and then euros in the currency market, converting about 300 billion won ($223.85 million) to 400 billion each day for the next five weeks, Yonhap Infomax reported, citing an unnamed currency market source.
According to Iranian media, Washington would also release certain Iranians detained in the United States. According to a lawyer for one of the detainees, Iran authorized four US citizens to be sent to house arrest from Tehran's Evin jail. A fifth was already being held at home.
Three of the prisoners were identified, including:
- Siamak Namazi
Siamak Namazi, an energy executive, was arrested in 2015. He had been an advocate of closer ties between Iran and the West. Iran sentenced both Namazi and his father, Baquer Namazi, to 10 years in the country’s notorious Evin Prison on what the US and UN say are trumped-up spying charges, Al-Arabiya reported.
- Emad Sharghi
Iranian court announced that the venture capitalist had been sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison, following espionage charges.
- Morad Tahbaz
British-American conservationist of Iranian descent was meant to be released from prison on furlough as part of Iran’s deal with the UK to resolve a long-running debt dispute in March 2022.
