Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani says his country and the United States are committed to a deal on Iran’s access to its $6 billion of funds frozen in South Korea.
The Qatari foreign minister made the announcement in a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday.
The Qatari foreign minister said executive procedures are underway in accordance with an agreement between the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and Qatar Central Bank.
Iran and the United States agreed in August 2023 to a Qatar-brokered deal to exchange prisoners and secure the release of some $6 billion of Iranian funds that had remained blocked in two South Korean banks since 2018 under the pretext of US sanctions.
The money was successfully transferred in September 2023 to accounts held by six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.
The administration of US President Joe Biden claimed at the time that the funds and the proceeds of Iranian oil sales to South Korea could only be spent on “humanitarian” purposes.
However, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi underscored Tehran’s full authority on its assets, saying it is the Islamic Republic that decides how to spend the funds and that the money will be spent “wherever we need it.”
The Qatari foreign minister, who also serves as his country’s prime minister, lauded growing relations between Tehran and Doha.
