Islamabad: In the direct negotiations between the United States and Iran being held with Pakistan’s mediation, one of the key conditions includes the restoration of Iran’s frozen assets around the world
According to a British media outlet, since the freezing of Iranian assets by President Jimmy Carter following the 1979 Islamic Revolution up until 2026, billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets have remained frozen in various forms across different parts of the world.
Over the past 47 years, the United States has withheld billions of dollars of Iran’s national wealth, including oil revenues, central bank reserves, and commercial assets.
The first and largest-scale freezing of Iranian assets took place on November 14, 1979, when President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order. As a result, approximately $8 billion worth of Iranian government assets held in U.S. banks were frozen.
These economic sanctions were not limited to the banking system but extended to industrial and energy sectors. Global companies such as Shell, Total, Eni, Siemens, General Electric, and Boeing withdrew their projects from Iran, leaving many developments incomplete and Iranian investments stranded.
Under the 1981 Algiers Accords, a portion of the frozen assets was returned to Iran. However, this restoration was incomplete and carried out under strict conditions. Iran received approximately $3.6 billion, which was less than the originally frozen amount, while the remaining funds were retained to settle claims filed by U.S. companies and citizens.
There are no official figures regarding the total value of Iran’s frozen assets. However, various sources estimate that the initial large-scale freeze in 1979 ranged between $8 billion and $11 billion.
In 2015, after the nuclear deal (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, there was renewed hope for meaningful sanctions relief. At that time, conflicting estimates emerged regarding Iran’s frozen assets abroad. Then U.S. President Barack Obama initially estimated the value at around $100 billion, later revising it to approximately $50–60 billion.
In August 2015, then Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Valiollah Seif, stated that Iran’s frozen assets amounted to about $29 billion. Of this, $23 billion was held in central banks of countries like Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, while around $6 billion consisted of oil revenues owed by India.
Under the nuclear agreement, the release of assets was significant but incomplete. Iran gained access to approximately $50–60 billion in frozen funds, mostly held in escrow accounts, but this relief proved temporary.
In May 2018, under President Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed strict sanctions on Iran. As a result, assets that had been restored just three years earlier were frozen again.
In September 2023, a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran once again brought the issue of frozen Iranian assets into global focus. Under a deal mediated by Qatar, the U.S. allowed approximately $6 billion of Iran’s frozen oil revenues, held in South Korean banks, to be transferred to restricted accounts in Doha, Qatar. These funds were generated from oil sales to South Korea before sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
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