Ahead of last week’s direct talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad mediated by Pakistan, Iranian officials demanded the return of their frozen assets and also sought compensation for damages caused by the conflict, on Tuesday Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres requesting compensation, the letter called on various countries to pay for war-related losses, although Iran has formally raised these demands no response has yet come from the United States or other countries, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-linked news agency Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran is continuing to assess damages in order to include compensation in negotiations, in an interview with Russian media government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said preliminary estimates put the damage at around 270 billion dollars which could rise further, adding that the estimate includes destruction of buildings and infrastructure as well as financial losses from halted industrial activity, according to Islamic Republic News Agency the issue of compensation was also discussed during high-level meetings with U.S. officials in Islamabad though BBC could not independently verify the claim, based on earlier reports from Press TV and BBC News, BBC Urdu compiled details about Iran’s frozen assets and how Tehran calculated its losses, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution U.S. President Jimmy Carter ordered the freezing of Iranian assets and from then until 2026 billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets have remained blocked worldwide, Iranian state media say the issue has resurfaced after the recent ceasefire and is now seen as a major test of U.S. sincerity, Press TV reports that over the past 47 years the United States has held billions of dollars in Iranian national wealth including oil revenues, central bank reserves and commercial assets, these were frozen through presidential orders and sustained under political pressure, the first and largest seizure occurred on November 14, 1979 when Carter signed an executive order freezing about 8 billion dollars in Iranian government assets including central bank funds and linked institutions, this led major banks such as Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Bank of America, HSBC, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse and Barclays to cut financial ties with Iran, sanctions also extended to industry and energy sectors forcing companies like Shell, Total, ENI, Siemens, General Electric and Boeing to abandon projects leaving many unfinished and causing major financial losses, under the 1981 Algiers Accords some assets were returned but the process was incomplete and conditional with Iran receiving about 3.6 billion dollars while the remainder was held to settle claims by U.S. companies and citizens, the agreement also established the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague which still handles disputes, there is no official total for frozen assets but estimates suggest 8 to 11 billion dollars were initially seized in 1979, the 2015 nuclear deal Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action raised hopes for sanctions relief and led to varying estimates of Iran’s blocked funds, former U.S. President Barack Obama initially suggested around 100 billion dollars later revising it to 50–60 billion, in August 2015 Central Bank governor Valiollah Seif estimated about 29 billion dollars frozen including 23 billion in Japan, South Korea and the UAE and 6 billion in oil revenues from India, although Iran regained access to 50–60 billion dollars under the deal most funds were in escrow accounts and the relief was temporary, in May 2018 under President Donald Trump the U.S. withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions refreezing the assets, in September 2023 a prisoner swap again drew attention to Iran’s blocked funds when about 6 billion dollars held in South Korea was transferred to restricted accounts in Doha under a deal mediated by Qatar, the money could only be used for humanitarian goods such as food, medicine, medical equipment and agriculture with each payment requiring approval from the U.S. Treasury, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress the funds would provide only limited benefit to Iran, the deal also included the release of five Iranian detainees in the U.S., later Qatar’s emir raised the issue of releasing the funds during a meeting with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but after renewed tensions with Israel in October 2024 the U.S. instructed Qatar to block Iran’s access again, recently Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it is difficult for Iran to trust the United States after years of asset seizures, he argued that Iran has fulfilled its commitments while Washington has not and stressed that returning frozen assets is a non-negotiable condition without which meaningful progress in talks is unlikely.
The amount of Iranian money stuck in various countries around the world
