US rejects Iran’s legal claim to recover $1.75bn in frozen assets

THE HAGUE: The United States yesterday asked judges at the International Court of Justice to throw out a claim by Iran to recover $1.75 billion (1.5 billion euros) in national bank assets seized by US courts. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the assets must be turned over to American families of victims of the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, among others. The hearings at the tribunal were separate from Iran’s claim relating to current US sanctions against Teheran. Iran’s claim in both cases is based on a 1955 Amity Treaty, which was signed 24 years before Iran’s Islamic Revolution that turned the two countries into arch enemies.

“The actions at the root of this case center on Iran’s support for international terrorism,” Richard Visek, legal advisor to the US Department of State, said yesterday, calling on the court to reject Iran’s suit.

Washington announced last week it would withdraw from the Amity Treaty after the tribunal ordered the US to ensure that sanctions against Iran do not affect humanitarian aid or civil aviation safety. It will take a year for a withdrawal from the Amity Treaty to take effect and Iran’s case against the asset seizure, which was filed in 2016, will continue regardless. The hearings in The Hague will run until Friday and focus on US objections to the UN’s highest court’s jurisdiction. No date for a ruling has been set.