UAE Denies Report It Transferred Billions to Iran

Reuters reported, citing four sources, that the United Arab Emirates had agreed to transfer billions of dollars to Iran as part of a broader, previously unreported arrangement. The disclosure came as Tehran and Washington were in the final stages of wider talks aimed at ending the war, negotiations that diplomats said could include the release of tens of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian oil revenues held in foreign banks under U.S. sanctions.

Two regional sources told Reuters that the UAE had agreed to free up a total of $10 billion, and that more than $3 billion had already been paid. Two other people familiar with the arrangement put the total involved at $20 billion, and said the deal was tied to an end to Iranian attacks on the UAE. One informed source also said an initial tranche of $3 billion had already been transferred.

The UAE Foreign Ministry firmly denied the report, including the claim that money had already been moved. It said allegations that it had "released, transferred or moved" frozen funds to Iran were "not true and not based on facts or reliable information."

The report also said Dubai banks hold substantial Iran-linked deposits, many of them currently immobilized by U.S. sanctions. Those sanctions govern the global dollar clearing system and can cut any foreign bank that deals with blacklisted Iranian entities off from the U.S. financial network.