According to a news report on Thursday, October 12 officials from the United States and Qatar have reached an agreement to block Iran’s access to a $6 billion humanitarian aid fund in the wake of the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas. This fund was previously unfrozen after a prisoner exchange deal was made between the United States and Iran in September.
The United States and Qatar officials have agreed to prevent Iran from using a $6 billion humanitarian assistance fund, following militant group Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel, a news report said Thursday.
The money had been transferred to Iranian accounts in Qatar, in a US-Iran prisoner swap deal announced in recent weeks where five US detainees were also released by Iran.
But The Washington Post reported Thursday that a decision was made to halt access to the funds, while President Joe Biden faces rising pressure on the matter given concerns over Iran’s connections to Hamas.
Tehran, which financially and militarily backs Hamas, has come under intense scrutiny since fighters of the Islamist group stormed across Israel’s southern border at the weekend.
Hamas gunmen killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took about 150 hostages in their surprise assault on Saturday. Israel retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza for six days, claiming over 1,350 lives.
The White House added in a separate briefing that “every single dime of that money is still sitting in a Qatari bank.”
US officials said earlier that they had not seen any intelligence to show Iran was involved in planning or preparing the Hamas attacks.
The Treasury Department declined to comment on the matter.
Some US senators have called for a re-freeze of the $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue as the conflict raged on.
The Biden administration maintains that the money is restricted to humanitarian use.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
