Iran rejects reports on deal not to release $6b frozen funds

EghtesadOnline: Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations dismissed a report that claims the United States and Qatar had agreed to prevent the Islamic Republic from accessing $6 billion recently unfrozen and transferred to Qatari bank.

News ID: ۸۰۳۸۸۶

13 October 2023

“The news is devoid of veracity, the publication of which would tarnish the credibility of the Washington Post [daily newspaper],” the mission announced in a statement on Thursday local time.

It added that the US senators in question and the White House are all “acutely aware that they cannot renege on the agreement.”

“The money rightfully belongs to the people of Iran, earmarked for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to facilitate the acquisition of all essential and non-sanctioned requisites for the Iranians,” Ali Karimi Magham, an expert at the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, wrote on X on Thursday, according to Press TV.

The Washington Post, citing Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo as telling House Democrats on Thursday, reported that US officials and the Qatari government have agreed to stop Iran from accessing a $6 billion account in light of the surprise and large-scale attack by Hamas resistance fighters on the Israeli regime.

Sources familiar with his remarks noted that Adeyemo said at the closed-door briefing that the money “isn't going anywhere anytime soon.”

Back in August, Iran and the US agreed to free prisoners as part of a deal that also included the release of billions of Iranian assets illegally frozen in South Korea since 2018 under the pretext of US sanctions.

The money was successfully transferred last month to accounts held by six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.

A US official said Wednesday that intelligence agencies still have no evidence to show Iran directed the Hamas attack.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee began the call for the Biden administration to refreeze the $6 billion in assets two days ago.

Earlier in the week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she wasn’t ruling out refreezing the funds if it was determined that Iran had a role in the attacks.

On Thursday, Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, dismissed the reports on the refreezing of assets.

“There has been no change in the issue of Iran's access to its foreign exchange resources in Qatari banks and the agreement [reached in this regard] remains in force,” it said. / MEHR