Iran’s President Forms Committee to Reclaim Money Seized by US

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has set up a committee to find a way to restore the Central Bank of Iran’s assets, seized by Washington according to a US court order, an Iranian diplomat announced.

Speaking at a television talk show on Sunday evening, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the committee is also tasked with preventing similar cases of seizure of the country’s assets.

Last week, the US Supreme Court upheld the Congress and president’s actions to hold Iran financially responsible for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 Marines at their barracks in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The ruling allows the families of the Marines and victims of other attacks that courts have linked to Iran to seize some $2 billion in assets held in New York’s Citibank, belonging to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which has been blocked under US sanctions.

“There are ways to have that money back,” Araqchi explained, blaming the previous administration’s imprudence for the seizure.

He said the legal and political ways are being weighed to deal with the issue, noting that the Foreign Ministry has protested at the case via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

The top diplomat further slammed the US court ruling as “invalid”, describing the move as “an international banditry.”

He added that the hostile move is a reminder of continuing enmity between the US and Iran, stressing that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was not basically after ending the hostility.

JCPOA is a lasting deal on Tehran’s nuclear program, signed between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany). The deal took effect in January.

Golrokh Askarieh

Recent Posts

Senior advisor to Iran FM: No immediate plans to adjust military advisors in Syria

Ali Asghar Khaji, a Senior Advisor to Iran’s Foreign Minister, stated in an interview with…

2 hours ago

Biden, Xi to discuss China’s support for Russia at APEC summit

US President Joe Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of…

4 hours ago

Rights group accuses Israel of crimes against humanity over forced displacement of Gazans

Israel is using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of Palestinian…

4 hours ago

Iran to give ‘immediate response’ to any anti-Tehran resolution by IAEA: Nuclear chief

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), has warned of…

4 hours ago

Trump seeking to bring Ukraine, Russia to negotiating table: US National security advisor nominee

Donald Trump wants to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table to end the…

5 hours ago

Army commander: Iran to deliver crushing response to Israel

The Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, Major General Seyyed Abdolrahim Mousavi, has vowed a decisive…

5 hours ago