US moves to advance prisoner swap deal with Iran and release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds

IMO, Blinken is the best SecState we've had in a long while, and that includes Hillary and Rice.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers late last week, a month after U.S. and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place.

The waiver is likely to draw criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others that the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies.

Due to numerous U.S. sanctions on foreign banks that engage in transactions aimed at benefitting Iran, several European countries had balked at participating in the transfer.

“To facilitate their release, the United States has committed to release five Iranian nationals currently held in the United States and to permit the transfer of approximately $6 billion in restricted Iranian funds held in (South Korea) to restricted accounts in Qatar, where the funds will be available only for humanitarian trade,” Blinken wrote.

“I determine that it is in the national security interest of the United States to waive the imposition of sanctions ... with respect to foreign financial institutions under the primary jurisdiction of Germany, Ireland, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, and Switzerland that are notified directly in writing by the U.S. government, to the extent necessary for such institutions to engage in transactions occurring on or after August 9, 2023,” Blinken wrote.

The original article contains 616 words, the summary contains 264 words. Saved 57%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!