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U.S. Pledges To 'Continue Holding' Iran Accountable For Destabilizing Activities, Despite Prisoner Deal
Washington D.C./15.08.23/Turan: The United States made it clear on Monday that its recent prisoner deal with Iran will not change policy to hold Tehran accountable for any destabilizing activities, including its 'problematic, malign actions' in the region, as the State Department put it, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
"Their egregious human rights violations, their continued support for the Russian war machine by the provision of drones to be used in Kyiv... All of these things the United States will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable for," State Department principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told TURAN's correspondent during a regular briefing.
The U.S, and Iran have recently reached an agreement to win the freedom of 5 imprisoned Americans in exchange for several jailed Iranians and eventual access to about $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue.
According to Patel, negotiations around the prisoner deal are "still ongoing" and the release of Americans from prison to house arrest in Tehran are “unrelated” to any other issue, including Iran's nuclear programme.
He went on to add: “This is a positive step in our hope and desire for these American citizens to be able to come home but it is not linked to any other issue... And we have not changed any aspect of our overall approach to Iran, whether it be their nuclear programme – our belief continues and our goal continues to be that Iran will not obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Patel also played down the release of billions of dollars in Iranian state funds in South Korea. The funds, he said, were frozen in September 2019 under the Trump administration, who pulled sanctions waivers on countries importing oil from Iran.
Some critics insist Tehran will use much of the $6 billion to embolden in the region. Patel disagrees: “These funds have been available to Iran to use for humanitarian transactions like food and medicine since the previous administration. This money will be subjected to the same rigorous restrictions once it moves out of South Korea,” he explained.
The emerging deal excludes several U.S permanent residents, such as Shahab Dalili and journalist Jamshid Sharmahd, who remain in Iranian custody. Patel said Tehran's treatment of Sharmahd has been "reprehensible", but that it was for Germany of which the journalist is a citizen of, to address his case.
Alex Raufoglu
Politics
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