US attempts to seize Iranian assets to compensate terror victims sparks Iran’s fury
According to the Islamic Republic, the US lawyers’ legal case is "completely unfair". The goal is to use the money to compensate 9/11 victims, including US$ 1.6 billion held in a Luxembourg bank. For Iran’s deputy foreign minister, the action is “unfair and baseless”.
Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iran said Tuesday it was "completely unfair" for US lawyers backed by their government to try to seize its frozen foreign assets as compensation for the victims of 9/11 attack. This is based on a controversial law passed by Congress that has also caused anger in Saudi Arabia.
In 2012, a New York judge ordered Iran to pay US$ 7 billion in damages to the families and estates of victims from the 2001 attacks. Although 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudis, he argued that Iran had aided al-Qaida by allowing the group's members to travel through its territory.
Since Iran has rejected the accusation and has refused to pay the money, the lawyers are now trying to access US$ 1.6 billion of Iranian money held in a Luxembourg bank.
"Some opponents of the Islamic republic of Iran . . . have tried to broaden a US domestic law -- which is completely unfair and baseless -- to apply outside America," said deputy foreign minister Majid Takht Ravanchi, the IRNA news agency reported.
After years of embargo, Iran won a partial easing of Western economic sanctions in exchange for the agreement reached in July 2015 on its controversial atomic programme. Tehran considers it civilian in nature, but the United States and Israel fear it can be weaponised.
At the same time, Washington has maintained a range of sanctions because Tehran's ballistic missile programme and its military support for Shia movements in the Middle East.
Some of the billions of dollars in Iranian assets were frozen during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s last shah. The Islamic Republic wants them back.
Washington recently blocked the use of US dollars in bank transactions, stopping economic agreements after the nuclear deal. Tehran responded by going to the International Court of Justice, accusing the US of seizing almost two billion dollars.
Washington continues to classify the Islamic Republic as a "sponsor" of state terrorism. Whilst former US President Barack Obama tried to mend relations, the election of Donald Trump has led to escalating tensions.
Some of Iran's frozen assets could be used in compensation cases, not just for the 2001 attacks but also for the bombing of a US Marines barracks in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 American personnel.
The US Supreme Court ruled last year that US$ 2.1 billion frozen in a Citibank account in New York should be given to the US victims of the 1983 bombing.
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04/01/2008
28/02/2024 19:28
