Senior US officials have vowed to stop $6bn in Iranian funds held in a Qatari account from being transferred to Tehran without Washington’s consent, as they tried to defuse a bipartisan political backlash over the money after Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
The US had allowed the frozen Iranian assets to be sent from South Korea to Qatar as part of a prisoner swap deal with Tehran last month, on condition that any eventual transfers of the funds to the country be directed to humanitarian aid.
But the transfer of the money to Qatar, which is a US ally but also has close ties to Iran and Hamas, has turned into a political vulnerability for the Biden administration following the attacks on Israel. The sudden outbreak of war last Saturday has led for sweeping calls from Republicans and even some Democrats on Capitol Hill for the White House to refreeze the money or block it from being sent to Iran under any circumstances.