Frozen assets, oil sanctions relief discussed in US–Iran talks: Al Jazeera
- By Asim Mallick -
- Jun 21, 2026
DOHA: Frozen assets and temporary exemptions from oil sanctions were discussed in the first round of US–Iran peace talks currently underway in Switzerland.
According to Al Jazeera, the parties reached a draft agreement on a temporary exemption on Iranian oil during the initial round of talks.
Member of the Iranian negotiating team Hossein Ghorbanzadeh told Al Jazeera that a draft easing sanctions on Iranian oil has been finalized. He said that US-Iran peace talks discussions also focused on Tehran’s frozen assets and arrangements for their release.
“In today’s negotiations, we discussed the issue of our frozen assets and the arrangements for their release,” Ghorbanzadeh said.
The Iranian team further said that broader sanctions relief remained the central focus of the talks.
Separately, it added that the issue of ending Israeli attacks in Lebanon is expected to be taken up in the next phase of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned the United States on Sunday against making threats at the Islamic republic, vowing that “our armed forces are ready to respond”.
“Don’t they think that if their threats had any effect, they would not have reached today’s state of desperation? We do not take American threats into account,” said Ghalibaf, after US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran over its support for Hezbollah.
“They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.”
Earlier Sunday, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble.”
“If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” he added.
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by the Tehran-backed liberation group attacking Israel in support of Iran in the wider war, has repeatedly threatened to derail peace efforts.