MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) – US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Saturday that the United States will grant Iran access to $2.8 billion of its frozen assets during the four-month extension period of nuclear talks with six powers.
"We will continue to suspend the sanctions we agreed to under the [preliminary agreement from November 2013] and will allow Iran access to $2.8 billion dollars of its restricted assets," Kerry said in a statement.
"Let me be clear, Iran will not get any more money during these four months than it did during the last six months, and the vast majority of its frozen oil revenues will remain inaccessible. ... We will continue to vigorously enforce the sanctions that remain in place," US Secretary of State added.
Earlier Friday the group of six international mediators agreed to extend the deadline of the Tehran nuclear program deal. According to Kerry, the United States would release the assets in return to Iran’s decision to convert its 20 percent enriched uranium stocks into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.
Under the Geneva action plan adopted on November 24, 2013, the six world powers and Iran by July 20 had to reach an agreement, which would guarantee the exclusively peaceful character of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for a step-by-step lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The document is supposed to be signed no later than a year after the Geneva accord, which means the parties will have to agree on the matter before November 24, 2014.
