John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, also declined to confirm the decision at a briefing but emphasized that Iran had not retrieved any of the $6 billion. “Every single dime of that money is still sitting in a Qatari bank,” he told reporters. “Not one dime of it has been spent.”
Under the terms of the prisoner deal last month, the money was transferred from South Korean banks, where it accumulated as Seoul purchased Iranian oil under an agreement with the Trump administration, which choked off most of Iran’s energy exports. But Iran complained that those banks, fearful of being ensnared in U.S. sanctions, made it impossible to get the money.
In return for Iran’s release of Americans who had been held for as many as eight years, the money was shifted to banks in Qatar to allow Iran to tap the funds.
Mr. Kirby said that even if Iran had gotten any of the money, it would have gone to vendors providing humanitarian goods, not to the Iranian government itself. It would also be subject to oversight by U.S. authorities, as envisioned under the Trump program.
“We’ve done nothing different,” Mr. Kirby said. “It’s the same process.”
In a statement, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York City denounced the move.
