Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Central Bank of Iran has set up a special working group to collect Iran's assets frozen by foreign banks, IRNA quoted an informed source as saying on Dec.11.
Members of the committee need to define the exact amount of the assets and explore ways to return the assets to the country, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Last week, Iran's Central Bank governor Valiollah Seif said releasing the entire amount of frozen assets is not possible in the short term.
On Nov. 30, IRNA quoted senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi as saying Iran will get access to $15 billion of its blocked petrodollars for a period of six months after the Geneva nuclear deal comes into effect.
Some $10 billion of the sum will be available for importing foods and medicine, he said.
Moreover, $4.6 billion will be deposited to the Central Bank of Iran and $400 million will be used to pay tuition fees of Iranians studying abroad, Araqchi added.
Iran's nuclear boss Ali Akbar Salehi says a landmark nuclear deal Tehran recently clinched with six world powers in Geneva will take effect in late December, Press TV reported.
In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the U.S. and its allies have agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions and let Tehran reap as much as $7 billion in relief from economic sanctions over six months.
The Geneva accord would temporarily lift the White House executive orders of July 2012 and June 2013 that imposed penalties on countries that trade petrochemicals with Iran.