TEHRAN – Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, the governor of Qatar Central Bank has said that Qatar completely adheres to all its obligations with Iran and there is no obstacle in the way of transferring the Islamic Republic’s freed funds through SWIFT and Letter of credit (LC).

The Qatari official made the remarks in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Reza Farzin on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Morocco, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani pointed to the fundamental and good measures that have been taken in the past few days regarding the use of Iran's financial resources in Qatar, saying, "The rumors rose about this in the past one or two days have no real value and were mostly like a joke and a media gossip."

Iran rejected a report that said the country had been barred from accessing its $6.0 billion funds recently unfrozen and transferred to Qatari banks as reported by U.S. media.

During the meeting, the two sides also discussed the issues related to the development of banking cooperation and joint investments after the transfer of the freed $6.0 billion to Iranian banks in Qatar.

In this regard, Farzin said considering that Iran's freed financial resources can be used in Qatar through SWIFT and with openings of LCs, technical communication between Qatari banks and six Iranian banks is currently underway.

“By establishing these technical connections, the operating banks send and operate the necessary payment orders," he added.

The CBI governor pointed to the provisions of the previous agreement between Iran and Qatar regarding the use of these funds in six Iranian banks in Qatar, stressing speeding up the issue in order to start the payments as early as next week.

Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations dismissed a report that claimed the United States and Qatar had agreed to prevent the Islamic Republic from accessing $6 billion recently unfrozen and transferred to a Qatari bank. The American daily The New York Times on Friday made such a claim amid the Zionist regime's war on Gaza.

"Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, told House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money was under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used only for humanitarian purposes," the NY Times reported.

Earlier on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not confirm the reports about the agreement between the U.S. and Qatar to re-block the Iranian money in a Qatari bank.

Back in August, Iran and the United States agreed to a Qatar-brokered deal to secure the release of some $6.0 billion of Iranian funds that had remained blocked in two South Korean banks since 2018 under the pretext of U.S. sanctions.

The money was successfully transferred last month to accounts held by six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.

This year's IMF annual meeting is taking place in Marrakech, Morocco on October 9-15, 2023.

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Photo: Iran’s Chief Banker Mohammad-Reza Farzin (L) meets with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani (C) in Marrakech, Morocco.