The funds would as a bank payment to buy non-sanctioned goods, according to the Google translation of Mohammad Reza Farzin’s social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

His announcement came a day after the Iranian foreign ministry confirmed that the process of releasing billions of dollars from the assets of Iran in South Korea has begun. But it was not clear how the republic would utilise the unblocked resources and financial assets.

“The competent authorities will allocate these resources to address the various needs of the country,” it said on Friday.

Farzin’s social media post says around $7 billion from Iran’s foreign exchange resources was deposited in South Korean banks during the late 90s and did not receive any interest. He added that even during these years, due to the decrease in the parity of South Kora’s won to the dollar nearly one billion dollars of it faced a decrease in parity value.

He added that the costs of converting the funds from South Korea’s won currency to euros would be accepted by the “third country”.

All the resources would be deposited into the accounts of six Iranian banks in Qatar and would be used as a bank payment to buy non-sanctioned goods

“The rest of these resources, in case of a deposit, will be subject to receiving bank interest. Iran’s foreign exchange resources will be available in several other countries soon, and its news and effects will be seen in the market and trade exchanges,” it said.

According to media reports, White House spokesperson John Kirby said Iran could only access the funds “to buy food, medicine, medical equipment that would not have a dual military use.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has emphasised that the deal does not mean that Iran would be getting any sanctions relief.