Iran urges Japan to release billions in blocked funds amid U.S. sanctions

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi ​bump elbows during a meeting in Tehran, Iran August 22, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi called on Japan to release Iranian funds frozen in the country because of U.S. sanctions, Iranian state TV reported after the president met on Sunday with the visiting Japanese foreign minister.

Iran has been unable to obtain tens of billions of dollars of its assets mainly from exports of oil and gas in foreign banks, including $3 billion of its funds in Japan, due to U.S. sanctions on its banking and energy sectors. The sanctions were reimposed in 2018 after Washington abandoned Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers.