Iran received guarantee on US commitment to frozen assets deal: FM spox

The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry says Tehran has received the necessary guarantee on the US commitment to a recent agreement to exchange prisoners and free Iran’s frozen assets abroad.

At a weekly press conference on Monday, Nasser Kan’ani said “The talks took nearly two years and the process of the release of prisoners and Iran’s financial sources will take place within the framework of the reached agreement.”

“The US has given a guarantee for the implementation of that deal,” he added.

He emphasized that Iran, under the deal, “has full access to its own sources … and can buy all goods and what it needs using them, and the remaining will be turned into a deposit for which an interest rate will be paid.”

Kan’ani noted that the talks for unfreezing Iranian assets are not directly linked to the negotiations aimed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, but stressed that “issues can affect each other.”

The spokesman reiterated Iran’s commitment to continue the talks that are aimed to remove anti-Iran sanctions and to restore Iranian people’s rights.

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, abandoned the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and reinstated the sanctions that the deal had lifted.

The talks to salvage the agreement kicked off in Vienna in April 2021, months after Joe Biden succeeded Trump, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.

Despite notable progress, the US indecisiveness and procrastination caused multiple interruptions in the marathon talks.

‘Iran FM to head to Saudi soon’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kan’ani announced that Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will travel to Saudi Arabia soon at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart and the kingdom’s senior officials.

He noted that the two sides will discuss bilateral ties and the latest regional and international developments.

Saudi consulate general resumes activities in Iran's Mashhad

Saudi Arabia

That comes as Riyadh and Tehran normalized their diplomatic ties under a China-brokered deal earlier this year.

Saudi Arabia severed its relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad were attacked during protests over the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The two countries signed a normalization agreement in March, under which the two committed to ending a seven-year rift.

‘Iranian experts travel to Afghanistan over water dispute’

Kana’ani said a delegation of Iranian experts and officials visited Deh Rawood water measuring station in Afghanistan for the first time in more than five decades to verify Kabul’s claim of water shortage.

Experts to visit Hirmand River sources in bid to secure water rights: Iran envoy

A group of Iranian experts will visit the Hirmand River and its sources in neighboring Afghanistan, says Iran’s special envoy on Afghanistan affairs.

Iran and Afghanistan are locked in a dispute over the Hirmand water supply, which rises in the Hindu Kush Mountains west of Kabul and flows in an arc southwest until it empties out into the Hamoun wetlands, located in Iran’s arid Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

The Islamic Republic says Afghanistan is blocking the flow of water, but the Taliban administration claims there is not enough water to flow into Iran.

Kan’ani noted that the delegation has returned to Iran and their reports on the visit are being examined.

Following more than a century of rifts, the two countries signed a treaty in 1973 to establish a means of regulating their use of the river.

Iran must receive an annual share of 820 million cubic meters from the Hirmand under the accord, which Afghanistan has grossly violated in letter and spirit, endangering the lives of many Iranians who rely on Hamoun wetlands for drinking water, agriculture, and fishing.

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