Iran says US 'can not renege' on deal to transfer $6bn via Qatar

Iran said the US "can not renege" on an agreement to transfer $6 billion in frozen funds through mediator Qatar following Hamas' attack on southern Israel.

Tehran, which financially and militarily backs Hamas, has come under intense scrutiny since fighters from the Palestinian group stormed across Israel's southern border at the weekend and killed an estimated 1,300 Israelis.

Iran has insisted it was not involved, but celebrated the Hamas attack as a "success."

Israel has responded to the attack by imposing a total siege on the Gaza Strip and indiscriminately bombarding civilian areas, flattening entire districts and killing at least 1,537 people in the impoverished Palestinian territory of over 2.4 million people.

"The US government knows that it can NOT renege on the agreement," Ali Karimi Magham, spokesperson of Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations, said late Thursday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"The money rightfully belongs to the people of Iran, earmarked for the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to facilitate the acquisition of all essential requisites for the Iranians," he added.

The transfer of the frozen funds from South Korea to Europe and later to Qatar was part of a deal that saw the US and Iran exchange five prisoners last month.