Qatar says $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds not yet transferred
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds had not yet been transferred to Iran, adding that the money remained subject to a 2023 agreement and was earmarked for humanitarian purchases.
The spokesperson said US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were in Doha to meet Qatari mediators about US-Iran negotiations, but would not meet Iranian officials directly at this stage.
The spokesperson also said Qatar was coordinating with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz and safe passage for vessels.
A direct communication line for deconfliction in the Strait of Hormuz has been used to contain confrontations over the past few days, the spokesperson said.
The IRGC Ground Forces said on Tuesday that a six-member armed team had been killed in a clash in the mountains between Mahabad and Piranshahr in northwest Iran.
In a statement, the IRGC’s Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada base said the team had entered Iran’s northwestern border area for what it described as "sabotage and terrorist operations."
The IRGC said four bodies, along with weapons and equipment, were recovered after the clash, which it said involved fire support.
The statement warned that any attempt to destabilize Iran’s northwestern borders would face a “decisive” response.
A representative of a gold company linked to Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani said on Tuesday that 13 kilograms of gold belonging to him had been returned to Dubai, ILNA reported.
The representative said the gold was sent back to the United Arab Emirates, its country of origin, and did not re-enter Iran or return to the production chain for gold products.
The representative said the company had decided to procure gold domestically from now on and carry out production and minting inside Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, chairman of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, in Qom, Iran, June 30, 2026.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defended the country’s negotiating team on Tuesday, saying the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United States was reached in full coordination with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
“Unfortunately, some groups, in line with the psychological operations of hostile media, are trying to weaken this achievement by attacking the negotiating team and questioning national decisions,” he said.
He added that the memorandum of understanding was reached within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s broader policies and with the support of the Supreme National Security Council.
Pezeshkian made the comments during a meeting with members of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, an influential body of senior Shi'ite clerics.
The remarks came as Pezeshkian’s government faced mounting pressure from ultraconservative factions over the memorandum of understanding with the United States.
In recent weeks, some hardline figures have accused the president and the negotiating team of making concessions and questioned whether key security decisions had the backing of the Supreme Leader.
The attacks have exposed divisions within Iran’s conservative camp, with some establishment-aligned conservatives pushing back against the most radical critics.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom Chairman Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri voiced support for the negotiating team and said running the country under current conditions was difficult.
Other members of the group reportedly raised concerns including alleged violations of parts of the Iran-US memorandum of understanding, the need to explain the talks more clearly to the public.
The president insisted that Iran would not retreat from its national rights or core principles, adding that the dominant view in the Supreme National Security Council had been to use diplomacy to consolidate gains made on the battlefield and protect national interests.
Pezeshkian said his government had pursued negotiations from a position of “dignity, power and national interest” and would not give in to imposed demands.
He said the final text of the agreement with the US had been reviewed by expert and security bodies before receiving what he called firm backing from the Supreme National Security Council.
Pezeshkian also said much of his government’s capacity over the past two years had been spent managing crises.
“Over the past two years, a large part of the government’s management capacity has been spent on managing crises, reducing the effects of foreign pressure and preventing the consequences of these challenges from being transferred to people’s daily lives,” he said.
A large sinkhole caused by land subsidence opens beneath a street in Iran.
Land subsidence has expanded into a nationwide crisis affecting nearly half of Iran’s population, with parliamentary researchers warning the damage could become irreversible if current trends continue, Shargh newspaper reported on Monday.
Around 39 million people, or about 49% of Iran’s population, live in areas affected by land subsidence or at risk of its expansion, according to the latest report by the Iranian parliament’s research center cited by Shargh. The report said the phenomenon now covers about 185,000 square kilometers, nearly 11% of the country’s land area.
“Land subsidence is no longer confined to a handful of plains or isolated regions and has become a national crisis that threatens Iran’s territorial security and development outlook,” Shargh wrote, citing the parliamentary findings.
More than 380 cities and 9,200 villages are located in affected areas or in zones where subsidence is expected to spread, underscoring the scale of the challenge.
Groundwater depletion drives crisis
The parliamentary research center identified excessive groundwater extraction as the primary cause of land subsidence, with declining rainfall and prolonged drought accelerating the process.
As underground aquifers are depleted, soil layers compact and the ground sinks, a process that is often irreversible and permanently reduces the aquifers' capacity to store water, the report said.
Ground fissures caused by land subsidence cut across dry terrain in Iran.
The findings warned that subsidence poses a growing threat to roads, railways, water, gas, electricity and telecommunications networks, as well as residential buildings and historical monuments.
The report also said the phenomenon carries broad economic, social and public health consequences by increasing infrastructure maintenance costs, reducing property values, disrupting economic activity, degrading water quality and encouraging migration.
Recent reports have highlighted land subsidence as an increasing risk to some of Iran’s historical sites.
In September 2025, earthquake expert Mehdi Zare warned Iran was heading toward an “urban catastrophe” because of worsening land subsidence. Three months later, National Cartographic Center chief Eskandar Seydaiee said every part of the country except the Caspian Sea coastal provinces was experiencing subsidence to varying degrees.
Tehran faces the highest risk
Tehran is Iran’s most severely affected province, with about 1,630 square kilometers – roughly 12.5% of its area – already experiencing land subsidence, Shargh said.
The main hotspots are the Varamin plain and southwestern parts of the province, including Tehran municipal districts 17, 18, 19 and 21, along with the cities of Eslamshahr, Shahriar and Malard.
The report attributed the capital’s worsening conditions largely to concentrated overuse of groundwater resources.
Groundwater, it said, supplied about 26% of Tehran’s water at the beginning of the 2010s but now accounts for around 45%. Other estimates suggest dependence is even higher, with 62% of the capital’s water drawn from underground aquifers and only 38% from surface sources.
The findings come after Iranian officials warned this month that six consecutive years of drought, falling rainfall and dwindling renewable water resources have left Tehran facing a deepening water supply crisis, adding to concerns that continued overexploitation of groundwater will intensify land subsidence across the country.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized attacks on the country’s negotiating team on Tuesday, saying the MoU with the US was reached in full coordination with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
“Unfortunately, some groups, in line with the psychological operations of hostile media, are trying to weaken this achievement by attacking the negotiating team and questioning national decisions,” he said.
Pezeshkian added that the memorandum of understanding was reached in line with the system’s broad policies and with the support of the Supreme National Security Council.
