Top UN court rejects Iranian bid to unfreeze $2 billion held by US

By AP 30 March 2023, 6:52 pm

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Iran's agent Tavakol Habibzadeh, center, and delegation members wait for judges to enter the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' top court, which issued its judgment in a dispute between Iran and the United States over frozen Iranian state bank accounts worth some $2 billion, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations’ top court has rejected Tehran’s legal bid to free up some $2 billion in Iranian central bank assets frozen by US authorities to be paid in compensation to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran.

In a 10-5 majority ruling, the International Court of Justice says it doesn’t have jurisdiction to rule on the Iranian claim linked to the central Markazi Bank.

In a complex, 67-page judgment, the world court finds that some other US moves to seize assets of Iran and Iranians in the United States breached a 1955 treaty between the countries and say they should negotiate compensation. If they fail to reach a number, they will have to return to the Hague-based court for a ruling.

But the largest part of the case focused on Bank Markazi, and its frozen assets of $1.75 billion in bonds, plus accumulated interest, that are held in a Citibank account in New York. The court says that it doesn’t have jurisdiction based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity.