29 Mar 2024
Tuesday 19 April 2016 - 17:47
Story Code : 210290

Kerry: Iran has received only $3 billion since nuclear deal

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Iran has so far received only about five percent of its frozen assets since it reached a historic nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries in July.

Iran has reaped just $3 billion out of a total of over $100 billion in previously frozen assets, Kerry said Monday in Washington at a dinner hosted by the left-wing pro-Israel advocacy group J Street.

Kerry said that Iran will get about $55 billion in the long run, under the nuclear deal.

Sometimes you hear some of the [US] presidential candidates putting a mistaken figure out of $155 billion, the top US diplomat said.

While others thought it would be about $100 billion, he said, We calculated it to be about $55 billion, when you really take a hard look at the economy and what is happening.

Guess what, folks. You know how much they have received to date as I stand here tonight? About $3 billion, Kerry said. So what we said to people was true.

Iran has criticized the US for refusing to grant it access to the global financial system. Tehran says such access is one of the goals of the nuclear deal, and has urged Washington to stop preventing non-American banks from dealing with Iran.

Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are due to discuss the issue in New York City on Tuesday.

The meeting follows complaints from top Iranian officials that the US is not honoring its end of the nuclear accord.

Zarif said Monday he would urge Washington to seriously live up to its side of the deal and stop interfering in Irans banking and financial ties with other states.

Over $100 billion from Iranian oil sales have been piling up in banks in China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey over the past few years.

Those countries have been holding the funds in escrow because sanctions imposed by the West in 2012 had prevented the Islamic Republic from repatriating them.

By Press TV
https://theiranproject.com/vdcdnz0xzyt0fx6.em2y.html
Your Name
Your Email Address