Iran reported this Saturday that the United States has agreed to release frozen Iranian funds that were in Qatar and other foreign banks.
Likewise, the country of the ayatollahs has welcomed this measure and has interpreted it as a sign of “seriousness” to reach an agreement with Washington in the talks taking place this weekend in Islamabad (Pakistan).
Following the unfreezing of assets, a senior Iranian official has assured Reuters that “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz” would be guaranteed, which stands out as a key issue in the negotiations.
The Iranian source who revealed this information to the agency did not specify the value of the assets that the Trump-led country had agreed to unfreeze.
Instead, a second source has indicated that the US had agreed to release $6 billion of frozen Iranian funds held by the Qatari country.
Following the statements offered by Iran, the White House denies that they have agreed to release Iranian assets.
8 years frozen
The $6 billion, originally frozen in 2018, was to be released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Iran.
Instead, the funds were frozen again by former President Biden’s administration following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas.
At the time, U.S. officials said Iran would not be able to access the money for the foreseeable future and stressed that Washington reserved the right to freeze the account entirely.
The assets come from Iranian oil sales to South Korea and had been blocked in South Korean banks after President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018, during his first term in the White House, and annulled an agreement between world powers and Tehran on its nuclear program.
As part of the prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran, mediated by Doha in September 2023, the money was transferred to Qatari bank accounts.
The exchange consisted of the release of five American citizens detained in Iran in exchange for the release of the funds and the release of five Iranians held in the United States.
Likewise, Washington stated that the money was intended exclusively for humanitarian use and that it should be distributed to authorized suppliers for the purchase of food, medicine, medical equipment and agricultural products sent to Iran under the supervision of the US Treasury Department.
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