US, Iran Differ over Tehran’s Frozen Assets

A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
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US, Iran Differ over Tehran’s Frozen Assets

A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A panel displays currency rates in a market in Tehran, November 29, 2021. (Reuters)

Tehran accused the US administration of waging a “psychological war,” a day after Washington denied releasing $3.5 billion of Iran’s frozen funds abroad.

“The United States has not released any money to Iran. Any such report to the contrary is incorrect,” State Department spokesman Ned Price affirmed.

“We also understand that our partners have not transferred frozen funds to Iran, not even South Korea,” he stressed.

“And of course, the US has not authorized or approved any such frozen transfers to Iran. All of our current sanctions remain in effect. They will remain in effect until and unless we’re able to reach a diplomatic agreement,” in Vienna.

Price’s remarks, which coincide with a new round of talks in the Austrian capital, are part of a “psychological war” against Iran, state TV quoted an informed source as saying.

These remarks “will not affect what has actually happened,” the source added.

One of the countries will soon release the frozen assets under the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump’s administration on Iranian oil sales, deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari said on Thursday.

He added that $3.5 billion of Iranian assets have been released, noting that the government had requested other countries to release larger numbers

“Fruitful negotiations were held in this regard,” Safari confirmed, while declining to reveal the amount discussed.

In mid-November, the Central Bank said one billion dollars from the released funds would be allotted for the import of “essential goods.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian rial currency dipped last week but remained above historic lows after news that talks with world powers to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear accord may have run into difficulties.

The US dollar was selling for as much as 302,200 rials on the unofficial market on Saturday, up from 294,000 on Friday.

In October 2020, the rial hit a record low of about 320,000 to a dollar as a drop in oil prices deepened the economic crisis in the country already reeling under US sanctions and the highest COVID-19 death toll in the Middle East.



North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
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North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russia's top diplomat his country was ready to “unconditionally support” all actions taken by Moscow to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, state media has reported, as the two countries held high-level strategic talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a three-day visit to North Korea, which has provided troops and arms for Russia's war with Ukraine and pledged more military support as Moscow tries to make advances in the conflict, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Kim met Lavrov in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan where the two countries' foreign ministers held their second strategic dialogue, pledging further cooperation under a partnership treaty signed last year that includes a mutual defense pact.

Kim told Lavrov the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.

“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA said.

Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations' relations as “an invincible fighting brotherhood.”

The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of “strategic dialogue” between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year.

In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported.

Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops it had sent to Russia.

Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine.

Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed during the months-long campaign to oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions.

Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, TASS reported.