Yahya Al E’shaq, head of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said on Friday that the assets are held in blocked accounts in China, India and Japan.
“The money belongs to the government but it cannot be used immediately,” he was quoted by ISNA as saying.
Iran’s assets, generated mainly through oil sales, have been frozen by the foreign banks since the West imposed sanctions on the country amid a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program. Although the figure is contested, it is reported that China alone has frozen up to $22 billion of Iranian assets.
The Rouhani administration is struggling to get the money back home through diplomatic means. Once the assets are repatriated, state revenues will dramatically increase, resolving much of the economic malaise the country is grappling with, experts believe.
