DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's president said Monday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar as negotiations with the United States were challenged by attacks across the Persian Gulf this weekend.
Masoud Pezeshkian 's mention of the funds appear aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been challenged by efforts to open Oman's territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf. Iran's attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving though the strait, in which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime, creating a global energy crisis.
The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side, drawing retaliatory American airstrikes and concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.
Pakistan, a key mediator, has said talks would resume Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran on the terms of their interim deal. The Trump administration on Sunday said nothing has been canceled and technical talks are on track for the coming days. Iran has yet to say whether it will take part.
Pezeshkian offered praise for the interim deal in comments published Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency, calling it “a great victory for the Iranian people.”
“Based on the plans made, $6 billion out of the total $12 billion of Iranian resources in Qatar will be released and returned to the country, and necessary follow-ups are being carried out,” he said. He did not elaborate.
Pezeshkian, a reformist within Iran's theocracy, is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar, a key mediator along with Pakistan in the negotiations. So far, U.S. officials say no frozen Iranian assets have been released. Qatar as well as has not acknowledged any such transfer and Iran attacked a tanker filled with Qatari crude oil this weekend during the crossfire in the Persian Gulf.
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
A woman walks past a welcoming billboard featuring Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian along a roadside in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
NEW YORK (AP) — Pride Month celebrations peaked Sunday with big parades in New York, San Francisco and some other cities on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which accelerated and transformed the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Pride events often mix celebration and calls to action, reflecting the political winds, cultural climate and news around LGBTQ+ rights.
This month's parades and festivals around the U.S. have unfolded as President Donald Trump works to roll back transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Among other moves, the Republican's administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument earlier this year, then ultimately relented amid a lawsuit.
“As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, said in a statement Friday. “We will not be erased.”
Carlos Duarte came in from Long Island to attend New York's parade.
“It’s very important for us to be here … to be all together for love, peace and to show the world who we are,” Duarte said.
Meanwhile, multiple Republican governors have promulgated conservative-friendly designations for June, such as “Nuclear Family Month,” sometimes openly describing them as a counter to Pride. Other prominent Republican politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, criticized Major League Baseball 's response to some San Francisco Giants players who added Bible verses to the rainbow-themed Pride Night caps they were issued.
Against that backdrop, the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade set out to further their legacies as some of the world's largest and oldest such celebrations.
Both trace their roots to events held in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion on June 28, 1969, when patrons of a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid and ended up kindling a wave of activism.
The Stonewall Inn still is a bar; the Stonewall monument centers on a small park across the street, about half a mile (about 0.8 km) from the Pride March route at its closest point.
The newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official, also was held in Manhattan on Sunday.
This year, some transgender rights activists pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals' contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments.
Christen Clifford, a mother of two trans children, said during a news conference before the parade that New York City needs to enforce state laws that protect gender-affirming care.
“How can you let institutions that are actively harming queer kids march in Pride?” Clifford said. “I hope that New York City Pride will ban these hospitals from any future Pride parades until they restart care and so that families like mine know that you are listening to our concerns.”
The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients' medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.
Heritage of Pride said it has been talking with the hospitals about the issue. The group also noted the parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups, not by the top administrators responsible for decisions about care.
A message was sent to San Francisco Pride organizers about whether they faced similar questions.
Other cities with Pride parades Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match Friday took on a Pride dimension after the countries whose teams involved — Iran and Egypt — triedunsuccessfully to get the celebrations canceled.
Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Revelers attend the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco, Monday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Peppermint, one of the official Grand Marshals for the 2026 NYC Pride March, salutes to parade-goers, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Revelers attend the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco, Monday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Parade-goers attend the NYC Pride March near the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 28, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
FILE - New York politicians and activists raise a rainbow flag on a pole in Christopher Park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in New York, a few days after it was removed by the National Park Service to comply with guidance from the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
