Iran Summons Swiss Envoy over US Supreme Court Ruling

The Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who looks after US interests in Iran, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive the Islamic Republic’s protest against the recent ruling by US Supreme Court on the transfer of about $2bn of frozen Iranian assets to the families of victims of the 1983 bombing in Beirut.

During the meeting, Mohammad Keshavarz-zadeh, General Director for the Americas at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, presented the Swiss ambassador with two official notes which conveyed Iran’s official protest over the ruling by the US Supreme Court.

He deemed the ruling a blatant violation of mutual contract obligations, such as the 1955 treaty between the two countries, as well as US international legal commitments on the judicial immunity and inviolability of the assets and properties of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Keshavarz-zadeh further expressed Iran’s strong protest over another ruling by a court in New York which accused Iran of having been involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks without providing any evidence, calling the allegations ‘baseless’, ‘absurd’, and ‘contrary to accepted practices of international law,’ which guarantees government’s judicial immunity.

The Swiss ambassador said he will immediately notify the US Department of State and report the results back to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.