US and Qatar Plan to Unfreeze $6 Billion for Iran
WASHINGTON – As diplomatic efforts appear to advance, reports have emerged of potential economic relief for Tehran. The US and Qatar are developing a plan to release billions of dollars in frozen funds to Iran for humanitarian projects, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Under the plan, Tehran would initially be able to access $6 billion held in Qatar. People familiar with the details of the plan told the Journal that Iran’s central bank would be able to order food, medicine and other humanitarian goods using the previously frozen cash, which was mainly sanctioned revenue from oil sales.
The funds would reportedly be transferred under international supervision, with the report emphasizing that the plan is in its early stages and has not been agreed to by Tehran. On top of the reported $6 billion, the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran earlier this week will also allow waivers on Tehran’s sanctioned oil sales, while any more comprehensive agreement struck in the coming 60-day period of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program could lift all other sanctions and give Iran access to a $300-billion reconstruction fund.
Nuclear Talks and IAEA Inspections
The initial US goal in the talks that are set to open with Iran in Switzerland tomorrow is to secure an agreement from Iran for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites for the first time since the 12-day war in June 2025, Channel 12 reports.
In return for Iran’s consent to allow the inspectors to return to the sites — presumably including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, which were bombed by the US last year — the US is willing to unfreeze several billion dollars in Iranian assets held in Qatar, the report says, with those funds to be used by the regime to purchase food, medicines and other humanitarian needs.
Most of Iran’s 440-kilogram stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent — a short step from weapons-grade — is believed by the IAEA to be stored at Isfahan, with lesser quantities at Natanz and Fordo.
IAEA Director to Participate in Technical Talks
A source familiar with the matter has told The Times of Israel that the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Grossi, is slated to participate in the technical talks tomorrow.
The talks in Switzerland were scheduled to begin on Friday, after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday. But they were delayed amid friction over ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, with Iran earlier today claiming it had re-closed the Strait of Hormuz.
That crisis has been resolved, at least for now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructing the IDF to “hold its fire” in Lebanon, the report says. Channel 12 quotes a senior US official saying that the US demanded that Israel cease fire in Lebanon, except in self-defense. US Vice President JD Vance will head the US delegation in Switzerland, which will include Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The Iranian team will be led by parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
