07 June 2023; MEMO: Iran is to get access to $24 billion of its frozen assets, including more than $10bn in Iraq and $7bn in South Korea, ISNA reported yesterday. The agency said that the development came after the visit of the Sultan of Oman, Haitham Bin Tariq, to Iran, and the visit of US President Joe Biden's senior advisor for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, to Muscat.
Tehran will also gain access to $6.7bn of its special drawing rights in the International Monetary Fund as a result of the recent talks between the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammad Reza Farzin, and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Washington.
The US Axios news site revealed recently that McGurk had visited Oman secretly to discuss the possibility of a new diplomatic channel between the United States and Iran regarding the latter's nuclear programme. Washington's concerns are growing that developments in the programme could spark a wide regional war. US and Israeli sources were quoted as saying that McGurk arrived in the Omani capital, Muscat, on 8 May after visiting Saudi Arabia and Israel.
