Kazem Gharibabadi, the Secretary-General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, has clarified that Iran's recent agreement with the United States for the exchange of prisoners is entirely separate from the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad.

Gharibabadi emphasized that Tehran's primary concern is the well-being and fate of its citizens held in US custody.

He firmly dismissed the notion that Iran's decision to release American prisoners is contingent on gaining access to its frozen assets.

“The issue of Iran's financial resources that have been held hostage abroad has nothing to do with the prisoner swap deal,” he underlined.

Gharibabadi underscored that Iran entered into negotiations with the United States regarding the exchange of prisoners solely out of humanitarian considerations, aiming to support its nationals and individuals who have been incarcerated in the US under what he described as “bogus charges.”

According to Gharibabadi, numerous Iranian citizens have been unjustly imprisoned in the US on spurious charges such as allegedly bypassing the harsh sanctions imposed by the United States.

Last month, Iran's Foreign Ministry officially confirmed the ongoing process of releasing approximately $6 billion worth of Iran's funds that had been unlawfully held in South Korea due to US sanctions.

The ministry made it clear that the release of these funds had consistently been on its agenda, emphasizing that these assets had been “illegally blocked” under the pretext of “overseas banks' concerns about America's oppressive sanctions.” (ILKHA)