Iran frozen assets

Dashboard first — explainer second

Iran frozen assets dashboard — 2026

19 jurisdictionsData pass Ranges & confidence — not a single “total”

Track Iran's frozen and restricted assets in 2026 by country, amount, legal status, and accessibility — including the Qatar $6B account and U.S.-linked claims, in one live reference view. There is no single “official” global total: we publish ranges and confidence because custody overlaps and filings differ. For who is sanctioned and under which programs, use our Sanctions page.

Legal guide (EN/中文): Definitions, instruments & chronology

Last updated . Coverage spans 15 major jurisdictions and policy frameworks. Numbers are reference estimates — always confirm with courts, regulators, or counsel if you need certainty for a decision.

Key figures & status taxonomy

USD · editorial ranges

Estimated funds abroad (tracked band)

~$95B – "40B

Overlapping custody; not a simple sum across rows.

Freely accessible now

~$0 – $2B

Narrow trade or court-ordered exceptions only; politically contested.

Restricted / escrow / licensed channels

~$32B – $52B

Includes EU-style restrictive measures, Swiss/Japan-style holds, and bilateral escrow (e.g. Qatar).

Blocked / frozen (immobilized)

~$58B – $88B

Blocking and immobilization narratives in major allied jurisdictions.

Seized / forfeited (adjudicated)

~$2B – $8B

Title shifted after judgment or domestic forfeiture channels.

Jurisdictions in this table

19

Rows are editorial selections, not every regime worldwide.

Jurisdictions by status (this table)

Frozen10Restricted5Transferred but blocked1Forfeited / seized1Disputed2

Status legend

FrozenRestrictedTransferred but blockedForfeited / seizedDisputedHistorically unfrozen
Frozen
— Assets blocked or immobilized pending legal or policy outcome.
Restricted
— Use or transfer limited; may still earn income under license.
Transferred but blocked
— Moved into custody or escrow that still cannot be freely used or repatriated.
Forfeited / seized
— Title transferred to a state or creditor after final judgment.
Disputed
— Public classification or amount contested; filings and policy statements diverge.
Historically unfrozen
— Court or regulator ordered a release in a tracked window; may still overlap other rows’ ranges.

Quick summary

Iran-related money abroad shows up as central-bank reserves, bank custody, court-held funds, and similar arrangements — and public numbers rarely line up into one neat total. We publish ranges and how reliable we think each estimate is because the same funds can be counted in more than one country’s reporting, and “restricted” is not the same as “frozen” in every legal system.

The Sanctions page is about who is on a list and which rules apply to them. This page is about where money is held, roughly how much, and what status it has (frozen, restricted, transferred but blocked, forfeited, disputed, or historically unfrozen). Neither page is legal advice; use official sources when it matters.

Jurisdiction map

Color is legal status (same as the table). Circle size reflects the midpoint of the published USD range on a square-root scale so small bands stay visible — it is not an “urgency” score. Placements are national centroids, not bank locations. Hover a circle to read it above overlaps; click for full labels.

Click a circle or a table row to cross-highlight. Click empty map to clear.

FrozenRestrictedTransferred but blockedForfeited / seizedDisputedHistorically unfrozen
Loading map…

Jurisdiction table (19 rows)

If JavaScript is off, an accessible text version of this table is still available; the interactive grid is below.

Quick filters

Filters, chips, search, and sort run in your browser only — the page URL stays the same for search engines.

Showing 19 of 19 rows after filters.

United States
$38B – $52B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeCentral bank & bank custody
AccessBlocked — no routine access
SourceTreasury notices & major filings
Legal basis

IEEPA / OFAC blocking; criminal forfeiture

Verified 2026-03
Confidence High
Notes

Central bank reserves + bank custody; overlapping claims with allies.

United Kingdom
$6B – $9B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank & court custody
AccessBlocked — limited releases
SourceHMT / court dockets
Legal basis

Sanctions & Anti-Money Laundering Act; court orders

Verified 2026-03
Confidence High
Notes

Includes escrow pending arbitration outcomes.

European Union (aggregate)
"8B – $28B
Restricted
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeCross-member custody
AccessLicensed / humanitarian windows
SourceConsolidated estimates
Legal basis

EU restrictive measures; member enforcement

Verified 2026-02
Confidence Low
Notes

Member-state reporting lags; ranges from consolidated estimates.

Germany
$3.5B – $5.5B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank custody & securities
AccessBlocked — no routine access
SourceBaFin & EU notices
Legal basis

EU implementation; BaFin asset freezes

Verified 2026-03
Confidence High
Notes

Bank-held balances and title to securities.

France
$2.8B – $4.2B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeTreasury & bank custody
AccessBlocked — no routine access
SourceOfficial freezing notices
Legal basis

EU measures; Trésor blocking

Verified 2026-03
Confidence High
Japan
$2.5B – $4B
Restricted
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeImmobilized securities & deposits
AccessRestricted — MOF directions
SourceMOF public notices
Legal basis

Foreign Exchange Act; cabinet orders

Verified 2026-02
Confidence Medium
Notes

MOF public notices; bank reporting.

South Korea
$3.2B – $5.8B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeWon custody (converted band)
AccessBlocked — FSC-coordinated
SourceFSC tables & notices
Legal basis

FTRA; FSC coordination

Verified 2026-02
Confidence High
Notes

Includes won-denominated custody converted at spot ranges.

Canada
".8B – $3.1B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank custody
AccessBlocked — autonomous measures
SourceGazette & dept. statements
Legal basis

Special Economic Measures Act

Verified 2026-01
Confidence Medium
Switzerland
$5B – $8B
Restricted
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank “affected assets”
AccessRestricted — bank compliance
SourceFINMA & statistical releases
Legal basis

Embargoes Act; FINMA guidance

Verified 2026-03
Confidence Low
Notes

Bank secrecy limits public granularity.

Belgium
$0.9B – ".6B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeTreasury & bank custody
AccessBlocked
SourceEU implementation notices
Legal basis

EU implementation; treasury blocking

Verified 2026-01
Confidence Medium
Netherlands
".1B – $2B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeDNB-supervised custody
AccessBlocked
SourceEU & DNB chain
Legal basis

EU implementation; DNB oversight

Verified 2026-02
Confidence Medium
Luxembourg
$0.4B – $0.9B
Restricted
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeUCITS / fund structures
AccessRestricted — fund-level holds
SourceConsolidated estimates
Legal basis

EU funds law; CSSF-style freezes (cross-border)

Verified 2025-12
Confidence Low
Notes

Fund structures complicate single-jurisdiction totals.

Australia
$0.35B – $0.75B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank custody
AccessBlocked
SourceDFAT sanctions lists
Legal basis

Autonomous sanctions; AML/CTF

Verified 2026-01
Confidence Medium
Singapore
$0.5B – ".2B
Restricted
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeBank & MAS directions
AccessRestricted — compliance holds
SourceMAS notices (where public)
Legal basis

Terrorism Suppression of Financing; MAS directions

Verified 2026-02
Confidence Low
Notes

Often reported as “affected assets” not full block.

United Arab Emirates
$0.6B – $2B
Disputed
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeCorrespondent & local custody
AccessUncertain — mixed reporting
SourcePress & sparse official readouts
Legal basis

Domestic AML holds; correspondent banking

Verified 2025-11
Confidence Disputed
Notes

Public disclosure limited; includes pending settlements.

Saudi Arabia
$0.2B – $0.9B
Disputed
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeLocal bank compliance
AccessUncertain — limited disclosure
SourceSparse public data
Legal basis

SAMF / local bank compliance

Verified 2025-10
Confidence Disputed
Qatar
$5B – $7B
Transferred but blocked
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeCentral-bank escrow
AccessEscrow — release conditional
SourceWire + official readouts
Legal basis

Bilateral escrow; Qatari central-bank custody; diplomatic release terms

Verified 2026-04
Confidence Medium
Notes

Wire and policy reporting often cite ~$6B in escrow; band allows for currency, accrued interest, and definitional drift. See Qatar & bilateral section for sourcing limits.

India
$0.15B – $0.45B
Frozen
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeRBI / banking channel
AccessBlocked — UN channel
SourceUNSCR & RBI reporting
Legal basis

UNSCR implementation; FEMA

Verified 2026-01
Confidence Low
Notes

Small vs global total but legally distinct channel.

Iraq
$0.08B – $0.25B
Forfeited / seized
CurrencyUSD (range)
Asset typeCourt-linked custody
AccessForfeited / reparations
SourceDomestic judgments
Legal basis

Domestic court; war reparations linkage (legacy)

Verified 2025-09
Confidence Low
Notes

Legacy claims; overlap with UN escrow narratives.

Switch to a wider screen for the full table view.

U.S. claims & litigation landscape

U.S. rows in this table bundle several distinct legal channels: Treasury blocking rules, bank custody, criminal and civil forfeiture, and long-running terrorism-related judgments that claimants seek to enforce against Iranian assets abroad. Those channels do not move in lockstep — a blocked account can remain frozen while a separate judgment creditor pursues different property.

Blocking & ownership

Blocking vs. ownership

OFAC and IEEPA programs can immobilize funds even when ultimate ownership is disputed. “Frozen” here follows public designations and major enforcement notices; it does not mean every dollar has been finally adjudicated to the U.S. government or to private plaintiffs.

Judgments & programs

Civil judgments & enforcement

Large default judgments against Iran in U.S. federal courts created a persistent enforcement story: claimants look for attachable assets in third countries, while banks face conflicting court orders and sanctions compliance. Double-counting risk is highest where the same reserves are discussed in both diplomatic and litigation reporting.

Victim compensation programs

Congressional mechanisms and settlement vehicles sometimes allocate a subset of blocked funds for U.S. national claim classes. Those programs change who may benefit without necessarily changing the headline custodial total — another reason we publish ranges instead of a single “U.S. total.”

Definitions, instruments & chronology For statutory definitions, JCPOA-era context, and a chronological narrative, use the legal guide linked from the hero and Qatar sections.

Scenario lab (modeled only)

The global KPI band on this page (~$95B – "40B) is an editorial range, not a traded price. The buttons below multiply both ends of that band by fixed factors to illustrate sensitivity — they do not reflect new intelligence, court orders, or policy leaks.

Illustrative global band

~$95B – "40B

Baseline keeps the published editorial band; use the jurisdiction table for country-level detail.

Modeled illustration only. Not a forecast, not legal advice, and not a revised official total.

Qatar & bilateral custody

Qatar appears constantly in Iran frozen-asset coverage because several negotiation tracks have used Doha as a neutral venue and because wire reporting often cites a multibillion-dollar escrow held under Qatari central-bank custody. That narrative is politically salient; legally it is a narrow custody story: who holds title day-to-day, which release conditions are binding, and which sanctions or court orders still block settlement.

We model this as its own jurisdiction row (see the table above) with a medium-confidence band around the widely repeated ~$6B figure. The band is deliberately wider than a headline because wire services rarely agree on currency mix, accrued interest, whether swap lines count toward the same “pot,” and whether politicians are describing the same account as diplomats.

Other bilateral hubs can behave the same way — balances sit in a friendly jurisdiction under bespoke contracts while Washington, Brussels, Tehran, and private claimants argue over priority. When those stories surface, treat them like Qatar: separate custodian country, claimant, and the rule stack, then compare to our row notes rather than assuming a fresh global total.

For definitions of frozen vs restricted vs blocked, secondary sanctions, and JCPOA-era context, use the Market Intel legal guide linked below.

Table status (Qatar row)Transferred but blocked

Editorial USD band

$5B – $7B

Sourcing policy (this section)

We do not publish custodian bank statements. Amounts here synthesize major wire reporting, official readouts where available, and prior editorial passes dated in the table. When primary documents conflict with press summaries, we widen the band or lower confidence instead of picking a single “true” number. Flag errors with primary links and we will reconcile in a dated change log entry.

Legal guide: definitions & chronology (EN/中文)

Latest changes

  • Spec alignment: KPI buckets, status taxonomy, table columns, quick filters

    KPI strip now follows accessibility-style buckets (estimated abroad, freely accessible, restricted/escrow, blocked, seized, jurisdiction count). Status model adds transferred-but-blocked, disputed, and historically unfrozen (legend); Qatar row uses transferred-but-blocked; Gulf rows marked disputed where disclosure is thin. Table adds currency, asset type, access, and source columns; quick filter chips and search apply to the visible client-side view only.

  • Table UX: filters, citations, scenario lab, U.S. claims section

    Client-only status/confidence filters and sort modes (URL-stable for crawlers); expandable per-jurisdiction editorial notes with official links; illustrative global-band scenario strip (explicitly modeled); expanded U.S. claims & litigation framing (EN/中文). Stable row keys align map pins with data rows.

  • Qatar: bilateral escrow row + dedicated section

    Added Qatar as its own jurisdiction line (~$5–7B band around the widely cited ~$6B narrative) and a sourcing-forward explainer under Qatar & bilateral custody.

  • EU consolidated reporting window

    Member-state estimates for Q1 custodial balances refreshed; wide confidence bands retained where disclosures lag.

  • U.S.: supplemental blocking notice

    Additional bank custody lines reclassified from restricted to frozen pending OFAC review; range midpoint revised upward.

  • Japan MOF guidance

    Clarified reporting for yen-denominated immobilized securities; no change to headline range, footnotes tightened.

  • Partial discharge (EU)

    Court-ordered release of escrow tied to a single arbitration; reflected in editorial freely-accessible and restricted bands, not as a separate jurisdiction status row.

  • Switzerland: FINMA Q4 statistical release

    Aggregate “affected assets” ticked down; confidence remains low due to non-public bank-level data.

  • Korea: year-end custody survey

    FSC table revision; upper bound of Asia-Pacific KPI trimmed slightly.

Methodology & data ops

  1. We publish jurisdiction-level ranges with explicit confidence, not a single headline “official” total. Overlapping custody, double-counting across allies, and non-public bank data make a precise global sum misleading.
  2. Legal labels (frozen vs restricted vs forfeited) follow how regimes describe measures in public notices and major court filings, not colloquial press usage.
  3. Figures are researched and updated manually by the IranWarRoom team—not from live automated feeds. Each row shows when that line was last checked; we aim to review monthly or sooner after major court or regulatory developments.
  4. When we change amounts, labels, or confidence in a meaningful way, we summarize it in the Latest changes section.
  5. The jurisdiction map places each row at an approximate national or regime centroid for orientation only — not custodian addresses. Circle radius scales with the square root of the midpoint of each published USD range (larger circle ≈ larger published band). Color encodes legal status, not urgency.
  6. Status, confidence, sort, search, and quick filters on the jurisdiction table run entirely in your browser: they do not change the page URL, so crawlers still see one canonical address.
  7. The scenario strip scales the published global KPI band by fixed multipliers for illustration only — it is not a forecast, leak, or new estimate.

Roadmap

This page ships client-only filters, quick chips, search, expanded status taxonomy, extra table columns, richer scenario readouts, and the U.S. / Qatar sections above. Deeper time-series charts may follow when sourcing allows.

Iran frozen assets legal guide — definitions, JCPOA context, and U.S./EU/UN framing (Market Intel).