A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Saturday that the United States had agreed to release Iranian frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, a claim that a US official immediately denied. The assertion came as delegations from both countries gathered in Islamabad for high-stakes peace talks.
The Iranian source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, described the purported US move as a sign of "seriousness" in reaching a deal, and said the release of the assets was one of Iran's demands conveyed to the American side in prior exchanges. A second Iranian source put a figure on the claim, saying Washington had agreed to release $6 billion of frozen Iranian funds held in Qatar. Qatar's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The source said the unfreezing of the assets was "directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz," which is expected to be one of the central issues in the Islamabad negotiations.
The history of the funds
The $6 billion has a lengthy and contested history. The money originated from Iranian oil sales to South Korea and was blocked in South Korean banks after President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 during his first term and withdrew from the multilateral nuclear agreement between world powers and Tehran. Under a September 2023 prisoner swap mediated by Qatar, the funds were transferred to Qatari bank accounts as part of a deal that also saw five US citizens detained in Iran released in exchange for five Iranians held in the United States. US officials said at the time that the money was restricted to humanitarian use only, to be disbursed to approved vendors for food, medicine, medical equipment and agricultural goods shipped into Iran under US Treasury oversight. Following the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, the Biden administration refroze the funds, with officials stating that Iran would not be able to access the money for the foreseeable future and that Washington retained the right to freeze the account entirely.
Source: Reuters