Biden announced new sanctions on the same day, with Iran unfreezing $6 billion and exchanging prisoners with the United States
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani stated at a weekly press conference held in Tehran on the 18th that five Iranian citizens detained in US prisons will be released. At the same time, five American prisoners detained in Iran will also be released.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency, Kanani said that two released Iranian citizens will return to Iran, the other two Iranians will stay in the United States, and one will go to a third country to reunite with their family. Kanani also stated that Iran's $6 billion frozen in two banks in South Korea will be unfrozen and transferred to Iran's accounts in friendly countries.
Iranian Central Bank President Mohammad Reza Farzin confirmed on the same day that the unfrozen Iranian assets have been transferred to bank accounts within Qatar.
According to Iranian media reports, a Qatari plane carrying released American citizens left Tehran later that day. According to insiders, the aforementioned Americans will arrive in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and then return to the United States.
On the same day, US President Biden issued a statement confirming the release of five US citizens detained by the Iranian side. Biden also stated in the statement that the United States will impose sanctions on former Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian intelligence agency, citing individuals and institutions involved in "wrongful detention" of American citizens.
On August 10th, according to a report by Itsunomiya, Iran and the United States have reached an agreement to exchange prisoners, and both sides will conditionally release multiple individuals from each other's custody. According to the preliminary agreement reached by both parties, Iran's billions of dollars in frozen assets overseas will also be unfrozen, including $6 billion in assets in South Korea.
According to the Associated Press, the frozen assets are accounts payable for South Korea's purchase of Iranian oil. After the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement and imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Iran, South Korea froze the aforementioned assets in 2019.
In August of this year, Iran confirmed to the US that it had changed the mandatory measures for five detained US citizens from imprisonment to designated residential surveillance or home imprisonment; Iran unfreezes its assets in South Korea and converts them into euros through third-party banks. US officials say that even if Iranian assets are transferred, they are limited to purchasing humanitarian supplies. According to Carnani, this funds will be available for the purchase of "all non sanctioned goods.".
The United States and Iran have exchanged prisoners multiple times in their history. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018 and imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Ishgar, resulting in ongoing tension in US Iran relations. The Associated Press reported that the "prisoner swap" is expected to be difficult to ease the tension between the two sides.