A senior Iranian source said on Saturday that the United States had agreed to release Iranian frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, describing the move as a sign of progress in ongoing negotiations with Iran. However, a US official swiftly denied the claim, as reported by Reuters.
Speaking ahead of discussions under the Islamabad Talks 2026 in Islamabad, the Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had conveyed the release of frozen funds as one of its key demands to Washington and had received what it described as US agreement on the matter.
The source added that the issue was directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which is expected to be a central topic in the ongoing talks.
A second Iranian source said the funds in question amounted to approximately $6 billion held in Qatari accounts. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the claim.
US officials, however, rejected the assertion that any such agreement had been reached to unfreeze the assets.
The funds were originally frozen in 2018 after then-US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran and withdrew from the nuclear agreement between world powers and Tehran. The money stemmed from Iranian oil sales to South Korea and had been held in South Korean banks before being transferred to accounts in Qatar under a September 2023 prisoner swap agreement mediated by Doha.
Under that arrangement, the release of the funds was linked to the exchange of five US citizens detained in Iran and five Iranian nationals held in the United States. At the time, US authorities said the funds would be restricted to humanitarian use, including payments for food, medicine, medical equipment, and agricultural goods under oversight from the US Treasury.
The funds were later refrozen by the administration of Joe Biden following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas, an ally of Iran. US officials said then that Iran would not be able to access the money for the foreseeable future.
