Iran launches legal battle at UN to free billions stolen by US

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Sep 08:20
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Tehran opens a UN fight today at the UN to unfreeze billions of financial assets and those of Iranian firms, usurped by the US.

Iran opens its legal battle before the UN's top court Monday.

Monday marks the beginning of Iran's legal struggle before the UN's highest court to unfreeze billions of dollars in US assets.

The appeal before the International Court of Justice comes as expectations of renewing a landmark agreement – from which former US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 – dwindle.

Tehran petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2016 after the US Supreme Court ordered the freezing of $2 billion in Iranian assets over unfounded, trumped-up accusations.

Iran, on the other hand, argued that the freezing of assets violated the 1955 Treaty of Amity with the United States.

Tehran accuses the US of usurping Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian firms, and with Iran overburdened with economic difficulties as a result of sanctions and skyrocketing consumer costs, it is critical for the country to retrieve its financial rights.

Washington has attempted unsuccessfully to invalidate the lawsuit by claiming that Iran's "unclean hands" should disqualify its lawsuit to reclaim the $2 billion in assets.

Frozen funds

Earlier in July, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani stressed that South Korea must immediately free the frozen Iranian assets that have been blocked there for years, highlighting the importance of Tehran gaining access to its blocked funds.

"The Iranian gov't and people expect the new administration to immediately unfreeze our assets to provide a basis for improving bilateral ties," Bagheri Kani told First South Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun-dong in a phone call.

Iran has frozen funds and assets in several countries, including South Korea, but the latter has been closely working with Washington and waiting for a permit from there to repay its debt to the Islamic Republic.

South Korea and other US allies continue to follow US dictations of suspending trade with the Islamic Republic and refusing to pay their debts to Iran, which are largely for oil.

Nuclear talks in "stalemate"

The late US administration, led by President Donald Trump, effectively broke the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by abandoning it and began reimposing sanctions, in addition to implementing additional bans under alternative labels, prompting Tehran to roll back its commitments made under the pact, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told AFP on September 14 that the JCPOA negotiation talks intended to lift sanctions on Iran and bring the US back into the nuclear deal are in a "stalemate".

"I am afraid that with the political situation in the US, and so many directions without being conclusive, now we are going to stay in a kind of stalemate," Borrell said.

Over the past year and a half, efforts have been mobilized to revive the JCPOA deal after then-President Donald Trump, with encouragement from then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had America withdraw from it in 2018 - stating that the agreement was "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," claiming that "it didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will."

The consequences of this quickly ensued with Iran revoking some of its commitments by turning off monitoring cameras operated by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It also increased its stock of enriched uranium but only to fulfill the country's electricity and power needs, according to AEOI spokesperson Bahruz Kamalvandi.