“We have never strayed from the path of negotiation,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Monday.
He reiterated that President Ebrahim Raisi's administration has been resolutely committed to pursuing diplomatic channels for the removal of the US sanctions since he assumed office two years ago.
The top diplomat outlined a two-pronged strategy regarding the issue of sanctions: Rendering them less effective and eliminating the unilateral bans altogether.
Pointing to a recent prisoner swap deal with the United States, Amirabdollahian clarified that the exchange of prisoners was a matter of humanitarian concern and entirely separate from the process of unfreezing Iranian assets held in foreign banks.
He revealed that Iranian assets frozen in South Korea "at the order of the United States" were being transferred to a European bank in several phases, the first of which was completed on Thursday.
The funds would be converted into euros before being deposited into another bank in a regional country, he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Amirabdollahian said the presence of extra-regional forces in the Persian Gulf region will only exacerbate “security threats” in the region.
“Our message to regional countries is one of peace and friendship,” the foreign minister noted.
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