The United States on Sunday rejected Iranian reports that Tehran's release of two detained Americans will lead to the release of Iranian funds abroad.
Baquer Namazi, 85, was allowed to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday.
Iran is now awaiting the unfreezing of around $7 billion in funds stranded abroad, Iranian state media said on Sunday.
“With the finalization of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release prisoners from both countries, seven billion dollars of blocked Iranian resources will be released
,” the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency reported ( IRNA).
“A medical requirement”
But the US State Department has dismissed any such link as
"categorically false".
"Baquer Namazi was wrongfully detained in Iran and then not allowed to leave the country after serving his sentence, despite his repeated request for urgent medical attention
," a department spokesperson said.
“We know that the lifting of the travel ban and the release of his son was related to his medical requirement,”
he added.
Billions of dollars in Iranian funds have been frozen in a number of countries - including China, South Korea and Japan - since the US reimposed tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic in 2018 after unilaterally withdrawing from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
