A U.S. diplomatic spokesperson confirmed that “the U.S. has agreed to allow the transfer of funds from South Korea to restricted accounts held in financial institutions in Qatar and the release of five Iranian nationals currently detained in the U.S. to facilitate the release of five U.S. citizens detained in Iran”. The following day, President Raisi claimed that the “money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money”; a U.S. spokesperson countered that “the money can only be used for humanitarian purposes and we will remain vigilant in watching the spending of those funds and have the ability to freeze them again if we need to”.