US agrees to partial transfer of frozen Iranian funds in Iraq, says trade official
Shafaq News/ The United States has agreed to a partial transfer of frozen Iranian funds in Iraq, a top Iranian trade official told Iranian media on Friday.
Hamid Hosseini, Secretary General of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, stated that Washington had given the green light for the release of some frozen Iranian assets at the Trade Bank of Iraq.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq has announced to the United States that they owe Iran about $18 billion, while the Governor General of the Central Bank of Iran has announced a lower figure, and the figure of $10 billion was announced previously," Hosseini explained, citing the discrepancy in the figures.
Hosseini also revealed that the US had granted another sanction waiver to Iraq, enabling the payment of $500 million from Iraq's electricity debt to Iran.
"Iran's money is in a bank under the supervision of the United States, and it is only allowed to import goods that are not sanctioned," Hosseini added, highlighting the restrictions on Iran's access to its frozen assets.
He went on to reveal that 4,000 megawatts of Iraq's electricity are supplied by Iran annually, and that the increasing trend of exports to Iraq this year is expected to drive Iran's exports to a new record high of more than $9 billion.
US sanctions have long prevented Iran from accessing billions worth of its assets in foreign banks, and the partial transfer of frozen Iranian funds in Iraq marks a rare concession from Washington.
