The State Department on Tuesday defended its progress towards finishing a prisoner cope with Iran below which the United States is liberating $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds for humanitarian functions in alternate for the discharge of 5 Americans held in Tehran.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken signed waivers on Friday permitting the Iranian cash, which has been saved in South Korean accounts, to be transferred to accounts in Qatar with out operating afoul of U.S. sanctions in opposition to Iran. The cash shall be topic to American authorities oversight to make sure that Iran makes use of it just for humanitarian purchases similar to medication and meals.

Under the deal struck last month and beforehand reported by The New York Times, Iran moved the 5 Americans from jail to accommodate arrest and can enable them to return to the United States when the cash is absolutely transferred. The Biden administration has additionally authorised the discharge of 5 Iranians imprisoned within the United States.

The deal might be full as quickly as subsequent week. Mr. Blinken formally notified Congress of the waivers on Monday.

The settlement has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans who say that the Biden administration is paying far too excessive a worth for the discharge of the Americans. Republicans additionally say that even when the cash is intently monitored, its use for humanitarian wants will bolster the nation’s clerical authorities and unlock funds for nefarious functions.

In a press release on Monday, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, bemoaned the switch of funds to “the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism.” Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican candidate for president, posted on social media that the settlement “bankrolls nuclear ambitions, hostage takers, and extremists who hate America.” And Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, blasted what he referred to as President Biden’s “ransom” fee to Iran.

At a each day news briefing, the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, strongly rebutted such criticism after confirming an Associated Press report that Mr. Blinken had signed waivers on Friday permitting the switch of cash from South Korean accounts to Qatar, which has agreed to supply what quantities to an escrow service.

Mr. Miller stated many critics had falsely claimed that the Biden administration was sending American taxpayer cash to Tehran. The funds had been actually the proceeds of Iranian oil gross sales to South Korea. The United States condoned the purchases below exceptions to U.S. financial sanctions granted to nations that agreed to import much less Iranian oil and to put the cash owed to Iran in restricted accounts.

“It is Iran’s money,” Mr. Miller stated. “So there are people who claim that we are giving money, and we cannot give something that is not ours.”

Mr. Miller additionally took goal at administration critics who argue that giving Iran entry to $6 billion is just too nice a reward for the discharge of a number of American prisoners. Mr. McCaul complained that the deal “creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage taking.”

“Iran is not going to release these American citizens out of the goodness of their heart,” Mr. Miller stated. “That is not real life. We have to make tough choices and engage in tough negotiations to bring these American citizens home.” He stated the Americans had been jailed “under brutal conditions, one of them for more than eight years.”

In an interview aired by NBC News on Tuesday, Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, appeared to reject the notion that the funds could be restricted, saying his authorities would spend the cash “wherever we need it.”

Asked about these remarks, Mr. Miller implied they had been for home political functions, saying that he understood why Mr. Raisi “may need to make those remarks.” But he stated that the cash could be held in Qatar “under strict oversight” by the Treasury Department and warned that the United States may freeze the funds once more ought to Iran violate the phrases of the deal.

The settlement is a de-escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran, which had soared in recent times after President Donald J. Trump unilaterally abandoned the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and Tehran subsequently accelerated its nuclear program, taking main strides towards bomb-making functionality. Iran maintains that its program is for peaceable functions and denies it’s pursuing a bomb.

Experts say that Iran seems to have slowed the tempo of its nuclear program, partly in response to warnings from the Biden administration that it was nearing a threshold for a dramatic American response.