In June 1989, Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused the antics of the United States with having prevented improved relations, charging the US with plots and conspiracies. On August 9, Teheran press reports said Iran would aid the Bush administration in freeing American hostages in the event that Iranian assets frozen in the United States since 1979 were released. In response to the story, Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater stated the position of the Bush administration was "the same as it's always been, that we are not willing to link the Iranian assets question to the hostage question. That fits within the definition of our policy of not trading arms or money or whatever for hostages, of not paying ransom for hostages." On November 7, American officials stated an agreement had been reached for the United States to return 567 million to Iran, as "most of the bank claims were settled over the last several months".
