Iran called the unfreezing of assets a key factor in negotiations with the United States

Tehran's access to frozen assets has become one of the key incentives for the continuation of negotiations between Iran and the United States. This was announced on June 29 by Abbas Aslani, an analyst at the Iranian Center for Strategic Studies of the Middle East.

"Part of the agreement between Iran and the United States, reached with the assistance of Qatar, concerns Iran's access to this money. It looks like the process is starting," he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Aslani added that access to another $6 billion of Iranian funds is also being discussed as part of the negotiations. According to the expert, in 2023, during the administration of former US President Joe Biden, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement on the unfreezing of part of the Iranian assets worth $ 6 billion. The amount that was frozen in South Korea was then transferred to Qatar, acting as an intermediary, for subsequent transfer to Iran.

"[Doha] is trying to somehow save the situation by using issues such as, for example, giving Iran access to its money to somehow encourage Iran to continue negotiations with the United States," Aslani added, stressing Qatar's role in resolving the conflict.

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The IRNA news agency reported on June 29 that, in accordance with the recently reached agreements, Iran will have access to $6 billion frozen in Qatar. The amount will amount to half of the $12 billion of frozen Iranian assets stored in Qatar, the Iranian president said. He added that work on unblocking the remaining funds is continuing.