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Iran’s president on Monday said Qatar will release $6 billion in frozen assets as negotiations to end conflict in the Middle East were strained by new attacks.
“Based on the plans made, $6 billion out of the total $12 billion of Iranian resources in Qatar will be released and returned to the country, and necessary follow-ups are being carried out,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement published Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency, as reported by The Associated Press.
Pezeshkian noted it was a “great victory for the Iranian people,” increasing confidence in an interim peace deal.
Qatar, a key mediator involved in US negotiations overseas, has not confirmed the release of Iranian funds after one of its ships carrying crude oil was attacked by Tehran over the weekend.
The Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku was struck by Iranian fire in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, hours before the U.S. and Iran agreed to “stand down for now” so technical talks could proceed.
President Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire with the strikes and threatened to resume military operations.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
Despite the warning, on Sunday Iran launched additional attacks directed at Bahrain and Kuwait.
Bahrain’s foreign ministry said the strikes were “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression,” according to The Associated Press.
Trump said early Monday that talks with Iran are scheduled on Tuesday in Qatar.
“Although consultations with Qatar, including on following up on the implementation of the other side’s commitments, are continuing as usual, reports by some media about technical talks by the working groups being held in Doha are not confirmed,” Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, said in a statement published by the state-run IRNA.
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