News Desk
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has denied media reports alleging that it agreed to release up to $20 billion in frozen assets to Iran, with the foreign ministry saying claims that Iranian funds had been released were “entirely false and unfounded”.
The UAE foreign ministry issued a statement early on Saturday categorically denying reports of the transfer, including allegations concerning $3 billion. The statement affirmed that the allegations were entirely false and unfounded, stressing that no frozen Iranian funds had been released, transferred, or facilitated through the UAE.
The denial came after Reuters reported that the UAE had agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, citing four sources, in what it described as a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the Gulf Arab state during the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.
The reported move, which had not been previously disclosed, coincided with the final stages of broader negotiations between Tehran and Washington on ending the war — talks that diplomats say could involve the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks under US sanctions.
In the past month, the UAE, which was heavily targeted by Iran at the height of the war, has been spared fresh strikes, while Iran has directed missiles and drones towards Kuwait and Bahrain.
The last known direct attack by Iran on the UAE was more than a month ago — a May 4 strike on the Gulf state’s Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman. Two regional sources told Reuters the UAE had agreed to release a total of $10 billion, more than $3 billion of which had already been delivered.
