US: Iran has unclean hands and supports global terrorism

US official urges world court to throw out Tehran’s case on frozen assets

The United States accused Tehran yesterday of having “unclean hands” as it fought an Iranian court bid to unfreeze billions of dollars earmarked by Washington for terror victims.

Washington said Iran’s “support for international terrorism”, including bombings and airline hijackings, should rule out its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Iran dragged Washington to the UN’s top court in 2016 over a US Supreme Court ruling that the $2 billion should go to victims of attacks blamed on the Islamic republic.

Iran said the case breached a 1955 “Treaty of Amity” between Washington and Tehran signed before Iran’s Islamic revolution.

Washington tore up that treaty last week after the ICJ in a separate case ordered the United States to ease sanctions reimposed on Iran by US President Donald Trump after he pulled out of Iran’s 2015 international nuclear deal.

“Iran comes to the court with unclean hands. Indeed, it is a remarkable show of bad faith,” Richard Visek, a US State Department legal official, told the court.

“The actions at the root of this case centre on Iran’s support for international terrorism... Iran’s bad acts include support for terrorist bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and airline hijackings,” he said.

Visek also accused Iran’s “most senior leaders” of the “encouragement and promotion of terrorism” and “violation of nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missile and arms trafficking obligations”.

Iran’s use of the 1955 treaty to lodge the case was an “abuse of process”, he added.

The ICJ was set up after the Second World War to rule on disputes between United Nations member states. Its rulings are binding but it has no power to enforce them.

At yesterday’s hearing, a 15-judge bench is listening to US arguments over whether the ICJ can take up the case under its strict rules governing its procedure. The US Supreme Court ruled in April 2016 that $2 billion in Iran’s frozen assets must go to American victims of terror attacks.