Iran seeks frozen funds as US interim deal appears close

Efforts to reach a preliminary deal between Iran and the US have intensified despite strikes exchanged by both sides, as they discuss a mechanism for releasing https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/what-know-about-irans-billions-frozen-funds">frozen Iranian funds, three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters.

The Iranian sources said a political understanding had been reached, but some issues remained to be discussed in detail, including a mechanism for the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.

"Iran wants $6 billion to $12 billion of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright," said one of the Iranian sources.

For its own survival, the Iranian establishment's priority is not a comprehensive settlement but a framework that can restore minimum breathing space for the Khamenei regime by unlocking its frozen assets and ending the war, the Iranian sources said.