As a second round of talks between the United States and Iran approaches, aiming to resolve their conflict, a key point of contention has surfaced: Tehran’s frozen assets held abroad. Iran’s economy has been struggling for years, primarily due to sanctions imposed by the US and other countries. These sanctions, initially implemented in 1979 following the hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution, were later intensified over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. These restrictions have prevented Tehran from accessing its own assets, such as oil revenues, which remain frozen in foreign banks.
On April 10, prior to the first round of ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, stated on X that the release of Iran’s frozen assets (revenues held in foreign banks) was a prerequisite for any talks to commence. The following day, during the ceasefire discussions in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, reports circulated suggesting Washington had agreed to unfreeze at least a portion of Iran’s assets held abroad. However, the US government swiftly refuted these claims, asserting that the assets remained frozen. As talks are anticipated to resume in the coming days, before the current US-Iran ceasefire expires in the early hours of April 22 in the Middle East, this tension is expected to re-emerge.
But what is the total volume of Iran’s frozen assets, why is Tehran unable to access them, where are these funds currently located, and why are they so crucial for Iran? While the precise amount of Iran’s frozen assets remains uncertain, official Iranian reports and expert analyses estimate the total value of these overseas assets to exceed $100 billion. Frederic Schneider, a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, informed Al Jazeera that these assets represent approximately four times Iran’s annual earnings from hydrocarbon sales. “This is a very substantial sum, particularly for a society that has endured decades of US-led sanctions,” he stated. He further noted that it’s unclear whether the US, even if it were to release these assets, would impose conditions on their usage. “Iran certainly has a pressing need for these assets, but given the tumultuous history of sanctions and a perceived lack of US specialists to negotiate the specifics, Iran remains skeptical,” he commented.
In 2016, Jacob Lew, former Secretary of the Treasury under US President Barack Obama, stated that Iran would not be able to access all of its frozen assets abroad, even if all sanctions were lifted. At that time, Iran had entered a landmark agreement with the US and other nations, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Lew had informed Congress that, in reality, Iran would likely only be able to access about half of its frozen assets at best, as the remainder was already allocated for prior investments or loan repayments. Currently, Tehran’s primary demand in the ceasefire talks is the release of at least $6 billion of its frozen assets, intended as a confidence-building measure.
What constitutes frozen assets? The freezing of assets occurs when the funds, property, or securities belonging to an individual, company, or a country’s central bank are temporarily held by another nation’s authorities or an international organization. This action restricts the owners’ ability to sell these assets, typically due to sanctions, court orders, or other regulatory directives. Assets can be frozen by a court, another country, an international body, or a banking institution. Officially, nations justify freezing assets of another country or company based on accusations of criminal activities, money laundering, or violations of international law. However, critics argue that this practice is selectively applied to target rivals of the West. For example, Israel has faced numerous accusations of human rights abuses, engaging in illegal wars, and perpetrating apartheid, yet its overseas assets have never been frozen by any country. In contrast, countries like Iran, Russia, North Korea, Libya, Venezuela, and Cuba have all had their assets frozen by foreign governments. The unifying factor among them is their opposition—or past opposition—to US dominance in the international order.
Why are Iran’s assets frozen? According to US government archives, the initial asset freeze occurred in November 1979 when then-US President Jimmy Carter declared that Iran “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” At that time, Iranian students were holding 66 American citizens hostage at the US embassy in Tehran. William Miller, the Treasury Secretary at the time, informed reporters that Iran’s liquid assets then totaled less than $6 billion, with the largest portion being $1.3 billion in Treasury notes held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In 1981, the Algiers Accords, mediated by Algeria between the US and Iran, led to the US unfreezing a substantial part of these assets in exchange for Iran releasing the remaining 52 American captives held in Tehran.
In subsequent years, however, US-Iran relations deteriorated further, with Washington growing increasingly concerned about Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran has consistently asserted that its uranium enrichment program is solely for civilian energy purposes, despite having enriched uranium far beyond the levels typically required for such applications. Israel and the US have repeatedly accused Iran of enriching uranium to develop nuclear weapons. The US and its allies, particularly in Europe, have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on the country, even as Israel—the only Middle Eastern nation widely believed to possess nuclear weapons developed through a clandestine program—has faced no comparable scrutiny.
In 2015, under US President Barack Obama, Iran reached a pact with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under this agreement, Tehran committed to scaling back its nuclear program and, consequently, regained access to most of its overseas assets at that time. However, in 2018, during his first presidential term, Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the pact, labeling it “one-sided,” and reimposed sanctions on Iran, thereby freezing its foreign assets once more. In 2023, the US and Iran agreed to a prisoner swap deal. This agreement saw Tehran release five US-Iranian citizens in return for the US releasing several Iranians jailed in the country and granting Iran access to billions of dollars in frozen funds. The specific funds were $6 billion in oil revenue, previously frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions. Under this arrangement, the money was transferred to Qatar for oversight. Yet, the following year, US President Joe Biden imposed new sanctions on Iran in response to its missile and drone attack on Israel, resulting in Iran losing access to these assets in Doha once again. Beyond the US, the European Union has also partially frozen Iran’s central bank assets, citing alleged human rights violations, nuclear non-compliance, terrorism accusations, and its drone program supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Which countries currently hold Iran’s frozen assets? Iran’s frozen assets are held across multiple countries. While the exact amount held by each country is not clear, Iranian media have previously reported that Japan, another significant Iranian oil customer, holds approximately $1.5 billion; Iraq, around $6 billion; China, at least $20 billion; and India, $7 billion. The US also directly holds approximately $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets, while EU countries such as Luxembourg hold about $1.6 billion. Qatar holds approximately $6 billion—the sum that was transferred from South Korea to pay Iran but was subsequently blocked by the US.
Why is the unfreezing of these assets crucial for Iran? Iran’s economy is in crisis, with decades of sanctions severely limiting its oil exports and hindering its capacity to attract investments and modernize its industry and technology. A surge in inflation and a depreciation of the rial, the national currency, triggered widespread protests in December and January, which evolved into a broader challenge against the ruling establishment. Thousands were killed during a crackdown by security forces. Iranian officials attribute these deaths to “terrorists” funded and armed by the US and Israel. Trump recently confirmed that the US had armed some protesters. Against this backdrop, the frozen assets represent locked cash that Iran could readily utilize: $100 billion amounts to almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.
Roxane Farmanfarmaian, academic director and lecturer in international politics specializing in Iran at the University of Cambridge, told Al Jazeera that unfreezing Iran’s assets would be profoundly significant for the country. “It would enable Iran to repatriate its hard currency earnings from oil sales, for instance, back into its economy. This would also grant it greater control over currency fluctuations, thereby mitigating the vulnerability to currency swings that, for example, ignited the December 2025 protests,” she explained. She highlighted that critical industries, including oil fields, water systems, and electricity grids, are experiencing infrastructure decline and would greatly benefit from upgrades if the country gained free access to its assets. With these funds, Iran could pay foreign companies and its own industries to initiate improvements, she added. “Evidently, Iran will also need to rebuild after the war, and freed-up assets would immediately accelerate and streamline that process,” she stated. “Access to its frozen funds would also jump-start the economic growth it desperately needs, improving the government’s relationship with the public and initiating the long process of eradicating the corruption that inevitably accompanies sanctions regimes,” she concluded.
The US decision regarding the unfreezing of Iranian assets would also convey a critical diplomatic message, according to Chris Featherstone, a political scientist at the University of York, who spoke to Al Jazeera. “Internationally, unfreezing the assets could signal a reduction in US pressure on the Iranian economy,” Featherstone remarked. “This could facilitate increased engagement from other international actors and regional neighbors, fostering trade and integration. However, given the Trump administration’s unpredictable approach to international politics and the war with Iran, this could also be seen as further proof of the difficulty for both US allies and adversaries to anticipate the Trump administration’s next move.”
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