Raisi: Era of West’s Dominance Is Over; Prisoner Swap Purely Humanitarian Measure

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian President Sayyed Ebhraim Raisi said the era of the West’s dominance over independent nations is “over,” stressing that Tehran has managed to thwart sanctions imposed by Western countries.

During a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanovic on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, Raisi said Iran has made great progress despite sanctions.

“Despite efforts made by some Western countries to impose their interests and values on other countries in the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to turn sanctions and pressures into opportunities and has made significant progress in different fields, particularly the field of technology,” he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said that Iran has made significant achievements in the fields of agriculture, industry, and medicine thanks to its peaceful nuclear program, noting that “we managed to treat one million patients with radiopharmaceuticals last year.”

“Why do the US and European countries, that own nuclear arsenals prevent other countries from benefiting from nuclear energy,” he added.

Also on Monday, Raisi met Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during which the two presidents called for accelerating the full implementation of bilateral agreements, including economic and trade deals.

Earlier during the day, the Iranian president referred to the prisoner swap that took place between Iran and the United States, saying it was purely carried out on humanitarian grounds.

Raisi made the remarks while speaking to senior American media managers on Monday after Iran and the US implemented a Doha-mediated prisoner swap deal.

“Definitely, any step that is taken [by the United States] to fulfil their commitments will be confidence-building for us,” he added.

Raisi told NBC that the released funds, which he said had been cruelly blocked and are now in possession of Iran, belong to the Iranian people and would be used to meet their needs.

After two years of high-stakes negotiations, Iran and the US agreed to free prisoners as part of a deal that also included the release of billions of Iranian assets illegally frozen in South Korea.

The funds, owed to Iran for exports of oil and gas, had been frozen in South Korean bank accounts since 2018 after the administration of then-President Donald Trump pulled the US from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, further aggravating tensions with Tehran.

On Monday, Iran and the US freed 10 prisoners -- five Iranians and five Americans -- after the US government unblocked the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds held in South Korea.

The plane carrying two of the five released Iranians landed in Tehran on Monday evening. Mehrdad Moein Ansari and Reza Sarhangpour arrived in Tehran after departing from the Qatari capital of Doha earlier in the day.

The three other released Iranians are not returning to Iran, with two staying in the US and one going to a third country to join his family.

Five American prisoners, who were flown out of Iran earlier in the day as part of the swap deal, also left mediator Qatar for the United States.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Mohammad Reza Farzin on Monday confirmed that the Islamic Republic’s funds were transferred to Iranian bank accounts in Qatar.

He said 5.573 billion euros had been deposited into the accounts of six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Al Ahli and Al Dukhan banks.

The Iranian president also pointed to the failure of the so-called US maximum pressure policy and sanctions against Tehran, suggesting that American media managers should urge their officials to reconsider the policy of imposing sanctions against the Iranian nation, because Iranians “are determined to overcome problems and will never yield to sanctions."

He noted that the US and the West raise issues such as hijab, human rights and Iran's nuclear activities just as an excuse to harm the Islamic Republic as an independent country.

He slammed US media silence on the killing of more than 1,000 American people by the country's police in 2022 and a recent fatal shooting of a pregnant Black woman by US police in the state of Ohio earlier this month.