Central Bank of Iran: The country's blocked assets will be released by January

An official from the Central Bank expressed hope that Iran's blocked assets would return to the Central Bank by January of next year, about three months from now. Gholamali Kamyab, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, stated in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, October 3, during the Geneva Investment Conference, that Iran has no gold assets abroad. Previously, Valiollah Seif, the Governor of the Central Bank, had mentioned in an interview with IRNA, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic, on September 14 of this year that during Mahmoud Bahmani's presidency, the reported gold reserves were much larger than reality and did not match the actual figures. According to Seif, 'probably due to the special conditions of that period and with good intentions to instill a sense of security in the people, those figures were announced.' The Central Bank Governor highlighted one of the positive actions of the bank in managing reserves as the return of about 13 tons of gold from South Africa and added that about 8 tons of gold had also returned to the country under the Geneva agreement. Meanwhile, the Fars news agency, referring to Kamyab's interview with Bloomberg, reported: 'Iran's blocked assets amount to $29 billion, of which $23 billion belongs to the Central Bank and another $6 billion belongs to the government.' This official emphasized that 'there may be other figures, but the majority of the amount is around this figure.' Following the announcement of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers on July 14, various figures ranging from $20 to $180 billion regarding Iran's blocked assets abroad were mentioned. Eventually, the publication of a report by the World Bank ended the confusion in this area. According to this report, the total amount of Iran's blocked assets abroad is estimated to be $107 billion, and it was stated that $29 billion of this amount would be released immediately and made available to Iran. The economic magazine Forbes also republished an article from an academic publication called 'The Conversation,' which stated that the amount of money Iran could obtain immediately after the lifting of sanctions is the same $29 billion mentioned. In this research article, the total blocked assets of Iran are estimated to be over $101 billion. The release of Iran's blocked assets is an issue that has always been accompanied by much debate and disagreement both outside and inside Iran. The main opponents of this issue are Republican representatives in the U.S. Congress, who still believe that Iran will use this money to destabilize the Middle East and support Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. Those with a more moderate view believe that even if Iran does not have such intentions, the influx of this substantial capital into the country, if not accompanied by planning, could be harmful to Iran's economy. The World Bank, in its report, deemed proper management of these assets necessary for economic development and emphasized that the Iranian government should refrain from spending the money obtained from the lifting of sanctions on consumption. In this regard, the Court of Audit has been 'mandated' to determine the exact amount of Iran's blocked assets. Iran and the $29 billion that will be released immediately after the lifting of sanctions. India is preparing to pay $700 million of its debts to Iran. The decision to 'pay part' of the government's debt to banks from the released assets.