Iran is entering talks with the Trump administration hoping to unlock tens of billions of dollars held abroad, money Tehran says could help revive its battered economy. Much of it has been frozen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and a large share consists of unpaid proceeds from Iranian oil sold to foreign buyers. The funds were trapped after Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 from the Obama-era nuclear deal and restored sanctions.
Estimates of Iran’s overseas assets vary sharply. Tehran says the total is at least $100 billion, while other experts put it much lower. Iran’s first request is to gradually release $24 billion. Espandiar Batmanghelidj, chief executive of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, said freeing part of the money could help strengthen Iran’s currency and curb inflation, though he said Iran would still have a strong incentive to push for broader sanctions relief.
China is believed to hold the largest share, with estimates ranging from $20 billion to $50 billion. The United States can block payments for Iranian oil because most global oil trade is conducted in dollars, and the Treasury can cut financial institutions off from the dollar system. The Wall Street Journal reported that China kept buying Iranian oil secretly even after the war began, and that Iran used some of those funds to buy Chinese machinery and auto parts.
Iraq holds about $15 billion, tied to payments for Iranian electricity and natural gas, although Washington recently ended an exemption allowing Baghdad to transfer money for power imports. India holds about $7 billion, after sanctions forced banks there to delay oil payments. South Korea also has about $7 billion, much of it later transferred to Qatar in a prisoner-swap deal with the United States.
Qatar holds another $6 billion, funds the U.S. has not allowed to move since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, despite their intended humanitarian use. The remaining roughly $8 billion is spread across Japan, Luxembourg, Oman and the United States. All figures in the report are estimates.
