Hague court rules Iran can try to recover cash frozen by US

13 February 2019, 6:03 pm

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The International Court of Justice has ruled that Iran can proceed with a bid to recover billions of dollars in frozen assets the United States says must go to victims of attacks blamed on Tehran.

Judges of the UN’s top court reject US claims that the case should be thrown out because Iran had “unclean hands” due to alleged links to terrorism, and that the tribunal in The Hague did not have jurisdiction in the lawsuit.

Pepole demonstrate with flags and banners during a rally of supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, demanding tougher policy on Iran and its violation of human rights in Warsaw on February 13, 2019. (AFP)

The court will hold further hearings to decide whether Iran can get back $2 billion frozen by the US Supreme Court in 2016.

Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the chief judge at the ICJ, says the court “unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America.”

— AFP