The US and Qatar are negotiating a pathway for Iran to access roughly $6 billion in frozen oil revenues currently sitting in restricted accounts in Qatar. The funds, earmarked exclusively for humanitarian purchases like food and medical supplies, have been effectively frozen since late 2023.
A prisoner swap deal brokered by the Biden administration in September 2023 facilitated the transfer of these frozen revenues from South Korea to Qatar. Then Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, and the political appetite for releasing billions to Iran evaporated overnight.
What’s on the table
The proposed arrangement relies on what’s called a “dual-key” oversight mechanism. Both the Qatari central bank and the US Treasury would need to sign off on any disbursement, ensuring the money flows only toward humanitarian goods.
Discussions around unlocking these funds took place around June 19-20, 2026, during talks held in Doha and Islamabad. No resolution has been reached yet.
