Final Installments of Second Round of Iran's Blocked Assets Release Paid

On Tuesday, December 4, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran confirmed that the fifth and sixth installments of the second round of the release of Iran's frozen assets have been deposited into the bank's account. According to a report published on the Central Bank of Iran's website, $500 million was transferred from the Central Bank's resources in South Korea to the bank's account in Oman as the fifth installment, and $400 million from the Central Bank's resources in India was deposited into the bank's account in the UAE as the sixth installment. Thus, a total of $2.8 billion has been made available to Iran as part of the second round of the release of its blocked assets abroad. Iran and the six world powers reached a six-month nuclear agreement on December 3 last year, under which $4.2 billion of Iran's frozen foreign assets were to be transferred to the Central Bank. After six months, in July of this year, the parties extended this agreement for another four months, and it was agreed that an additional $2.8 billion of Iran's blocked assets would be released. Therefore, over the past year, exactly $7 billion of Iran's assets have been released based on the Geneva agreement. On December 3 of this year, the six world powers again extended the nuclear agreement for seven months, and according to ISNA news agency, it was agreed that $700 million of Iran's frozen assets would be released each month over a six-month period. In total, if these amounts are made available to Iran, a total of $11.2 billion will be deposited into the account of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic in three phases of the release of Iran's assets abroad. So far, South Korea, Japan, and India have released Iran's blocked assets in these countries as part of the Geneva nuclear agreement. Earlier this year, the U.S. government announced that Iran's blocked assets abroad are likely around $100 billion. In July of this year, Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, confirmed in an interview with the House of the People news agency that $100 billion of Iran's assets are currently blocked abroad and will be released if a comprehensive nuclear agreement is reached. However, Iran and the six world powers, including the U.S., France, the UK, Germany, Russia, and China, could not reach a conclusion by the deadline for the comprehensive nuclear agreement on December 3, and it was only agreed to extend the negotiations for another seven months. In this context, Western countries have stated that Iran must cooperate with the agency to lift sanctions. The General Court of the European Union ruled to lift sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran. The first installment of Iran's assets was 'released' after the extension of the Geneva agreement, with $550 million paid to Iran as the last installment of the Geneva agreement.