Iran’s President says 6-billion-USD frozen funds in Qatar to be released

Tehran: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that frozen Iranian assets worth 6 billion US dollars currently held in Qatar will be released and returned to the country, according to the official news agency IRNA.

He made the remarks during a meeting with a senior cleric in the central province of Qom, while elaborating on the achievements of a recently signed peace Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Iran and the United States, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pezeshkian put the total amount of the country’s frozen assets in Qatar at 12 billion US dollars, stressing that necessary follow-ups were being taken to return the remaining funds to the country.

Describing the MoU as “a great victory” for the Iranian people, he noted that sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical and oil exports have been lifted within the agreement’s framework.

Pezeshkian also said the United States eventually compelled Israel to accept the peace MoU, although Israel and certain other groups are still opposed to the agreement’s implementation.

He reiterated Iran’s positions on its nuclear activities, saying that the country does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, and its nuclear activities will be in accordance with its needs and within the framework of its declared policies.

On June 18, Iran and the United States signed the MoU on ending the war in the region on all fronts, including Lebanon. Under the MoU, the two sides have agreed to hold negotiations within 60 days to reach a final agreement.

Earlier in the day, the United States and Iran had agreed to pause mutual attacks “for now” and hold talks on Tuesday in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to work out their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, US media outlet Axios reported.

The two sides will stand down “for now” and “vessels can move freely” as technical talks are set to continue, a US official was quoted as saying.

The Tuesday talks were originally set to be held in Switzerland and focused on Iran’s nuclear program. However, renewed tensions in the Strait of Hormuz prompted the talks to be moved to Doha, shifting the focus to shipping security in the strategic waterway.

IANS