A senior U.S. official reportedly said on Wednesday that the Biden administration did not take any steps regarding the possible release of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea under U.S. sanctions.

According to Reuters and Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency, the U.S. State Department official made the remarks to reporters, saying that the U.S. took no steps regarding the assets, denying media reports that they had been released. 

An estimated seven billion U.S. dollars of frozen oil money is held at two South Korean banks under U.S. sanctions.

Reuters quoted the U.S. official as saying that Washington and Tehran remained at odds over some key issues in recent negotiations in Vienna, Austria. 

Iran and world powers have been meeting in the city since early April to discuss how to revive the 2015 nuclear accord that was abandoned by the U.S. in 2018.