South Korean Media: Transfer of Frozen Iranian Assets to the Swiss Central Bank

South Korean media reported on Monday that frozen Iranian assets in South Korea were transferred to the Swiss central bank last week to be exchanged for other currencies and returned to Iran. Yonhap Infomax, citing an unnamed source in the currency market, stated that the Swiss National Bank (central bank) intends to convert the assets, which consist of six billion dollars worth of South Korean won, first into dollars and then into euros. It added that this will occur through the transfer of between 300 billion won (approximately 223.85 million dollars) to 400 billion won daily over five weeks. A South Korean Ministry of Finance official declined to confirm the report, citing the sensitivity of the issue from both legal and diplomatic perspectives. Recently, Iran and the United States reached an agreement under which five American citizens detained in Iran will be released in exchange for the release of frozen Iranian assets in South Korea, which will be sent to a Qatar account accessible to Iran. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated last week that the released assets will be used to boost domestic production.