The United States was working with Qatar on a mechanism that would give Iran access to billions of dollars in frozen assets for humanitarian purchases, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The proposal, which had not yet been finalized, would initially focus on roughly $6 billion in Iranian funds held in Qatar, part of an estimated $100 billion in Iranian cash frozen worldwide. The blocked money largely proceeds from oil sales trapped abroad by sanctions.
The WSJ said the Qatari facility could become a model for unlocking other pools of frozen Iranian assets and could mark a first step toward the release of a $24 billion tranche Tehran is seeking to access quickly.
Iran had not yet accepted the mechanism, which was expected to be among several proposals Washington would raise in nuclear talks with Tehran over the next two months.
The arrangement would come on top of renewed oil revenue Iran was expected to receive after Washington agreed to allow sales under the recently signed deal to halt the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In both cases, the U.S. would provide sanctions waivers and other approvals needed to carry out the transactions.
According to the WSJ, the Qatar-based mechanism would also give Washington greater oversight of Iranian spending and preserve leverage over Tehran’s continued access to its frozen funds.