The US has agreed to unblock frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar and banks in other countries.
Reuters reports this, citing a high-ranking source from Iran.
The source said the move is directly related to the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a topic expected to be a key one in talks between the US and Iran today.
Tehran called this a sign of "serious intentions" to reach an agreement at the talks in Islamabad.
Another Reuters source said the funds were $6 billion in Iranian assets frozen in 2018 and held in Qatar. They were supposed to be released in 2023 as part of a prisoner swap between the United States and Iran. However, the administration of then-President Joe Biden froze the assets again after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
At the time, American officials stated that Iran would not have access to these funds in the near future and emphasized that Washington retained the right to completely block the account.
The release of the assets was one of two conditions Iran set for talks in Pakistan today, the other being an end to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
There have been no official statements from the American side about the unblocking of assets yet.
War in the Middle East and negotiations between Iran and the US
On the morning of February 28, the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran. Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost the entire military leadership of the country — about 40 key high-ranking officials — were killed.
Iran, in response to the US and Israeli attacks, began shelling Arab countries and Israel. The war also halted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost a fifth of the worldʼs oil exports passed. This led to a sharp increase in oil and gas prices.
On the night of April 8, Trump wrote that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. Later, Iran published a 10-point peace plan: under it, the parties would cease hostilities, the US would withdraw troops from the Middle East and would no longer attack Iranian bases, and ships would have limited access to the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks.
Iran would also be required to lift primary and secondary sanctions and compensate for losses. Iran would commit not to developing nuclear weapons, and the US would recognize Iranʼs right to enrich uranium.
But on the afternoon of April 8, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that ceasefire violations had been recorded in several places in the conflict zone in the Middle East.
Reuters sources reported that Iran had struck the East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, which is currently the only channel for exporting crude oil from the country, and other facilities. Before that, Iran announced an American attack on the refinery on Laban Island and threatened to respond.
Amidst Israelʼs attacks on Lebanon, Iran suspended vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Although media outlets previously reported, citing data from the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, that at least two ships had safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz on the morning of April 8.
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