A senior Iranian source said on Saturday the US had agreed to release Iranian frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, but a US official swiftly denied the assertion, Reuters news agency reported.
The senior Iranian source welcomed the purported US move as a sign of “seriousness” in reaching a deal with Washington in talks in Islamabad. The source said it was one of Iran’s demands “in messages conveyed to the US side” and that Tehran had received a US agreement to release the assets.
The source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that unfreezing the assets was “directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”, which is expected to be a key issue in the talks.
The senior source did not give a value for the assets that Washington had agreed to unfreeze. A second Iranian source said the United States had agreed to release $6 billion of frozen Iranian funds held by Qatar.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the agency added.
Releasing the Iranian assets is one of two key preconditions Iran has set for entering negotiations with Washington in Pakistan, in addition to a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Iranian Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who heads Tehran delegation to Islamabad, reiterated on Friday that the two conditions must be met before formal talks with the United States can proceed.
“These two points remain unimplemented and must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” Ghalibaf said in a statement posted on X.
Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations.
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) April 10, 2026
These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.
About Iranian Funds
The $6 billion, originally frozen in 2018, had been due for release in 2023 as part of a US-Iranian prisoner swap but the funds were again frozen by the administration of President Joe Biden following the October 7, 2023 attacks.
The funds stem from Iranian oil sales to South Korea and had been blocked in South Korean banks after President Donald Trump reimpose sanctions on Iran in 2018 – during his first term in the White House – and scrapped a deal between world powers and Tehran over its nuclear program.
Under the September 2023 U.S.–Iran prisoner swap mediated by Doha, the money was transferred to Qatari bank accounts. The prisoner swap involved the release of five US citizens detained in Iran in exchange for the funds’ release and the release of five Iranians held in the United States.