Iran’s bid to recover frozen assets worth $2 billion can proceed after the ICJ rejected a US bid to halt the process. But the money, held by the US since 2008, has already been partly used to compensate terror victims.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Corder
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday approved a bid by the Iranian government to recover some $2 billion (€1.77bn) in frozen assets in the US.
The US had sought for the bid to be thrown out, saying Iran had "unclean hands". Washington has long considered Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.
The ICJ decision, which came after two-and-a-half years of proceedings, knocked back US objections and paved the way for Iran to proceed with attempts to recover its assets.
The treaty guaranteed the protection of both countries’ property. It also barred "restrictions on the making of payments, remittances, and other transfers of funds."
But US defense attorneys argued that the Treaty had been designed to govern during "normal and ongoing commercial and consular relations… a state of affairs that has no existed for nearly four decades."
Iran took the US to court in 2016, almost two years before Washington said it was terminating the Treaty.Image: Reuters/P. van de Wouw
According to the latest Treasury report, only 23% of the original amount remains. A large chunk was redistributed after the US Supreme Court ruled the assets would compensate some 1,000 family members — victims of terrorist violence they alleged had been orchestrated by Tehran.
Iran has disputed this ruling and asked for the UN to intervene.
ICJ 'lacks jurisdiction,' according to US
Iran also used the Treaty of Amity to take the US to court last year, over renewed sanctions on the Islamic Republic imposed by Donald Trump's administration last May.
The ICJ ordered the US lift its sanctions on humanitarian goods to Iran, but Washington dismissed that ruling saying the court had no jurisdiction.
A day later, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the treaty would be terminated.
"This is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue," he said. "Iran is abusing the ICJ for political and propaganda purposes."
The ICJ is the top court of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes between countries in accordance with international law, but lacks power to enforce its decisions.
Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on
40 years ago, the revolutionaries led by Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran. Anger against the Western-backed Shah regime helped Khomeini establish his hardline Islamic system, which still dominates the country.
Image: Reuters/Official Khamenei website
'I feel nothing'
On February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from exile in France. When a reporter asked him how he felt upon his return to Iran, Khomeini replied: "Nothing — I feel nothing." Some analysts interpreted his remarks as the Shiite leader's idea about embarking on a "divine mission" where emotions hardly mattered.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
The Shah ran out of time
Two months before Khomeini's return to Iran, an estimated six to nine million people took to the streets in the country's major cities. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, compared to the violent September 8, 1978, protests. The Shah regime, headed by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had realized that its time in power was over and that they could not stop Khomeini's return.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/UPI
Even women rooted for Khomeini
The revolutionary mood was so intense in Tehran that even many women celebrated Khomeini's return, ignoring the fact that Khomeini had slammed Shah's measures for women's emancipation in exile. In 1963, the Shah of Iran granted women the right to vote.
Image: picture-alliance/IMAGNO/Votava
A spectacle of exuberance
In 1971, the Shah and his wife Farah Diba (seen in the picture) staged a lavish spectacle on the ancient site of Persepolis to mark the "2,500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy." Many heads of state attended the event. Khomeini, in his message from exile, condemned the monarchy as "cruel, evil and un-Islamic."
Image: picture alliance/akg-images/H. Vassal
Exile and death
Under pressure from the Islamic Revolution, the Shah (left) had left Iran on January 16, 1979. After spending time in several countries, he succumbed to cancer on July 27, 1980 in Cairo, Egypt.
Image: picture-alliance/UPI
Consolidating power
In the beginning, women's rights were not a major issue for the Islamic revolutionaries. They only imposed hardline Islam after consolidating their victory.
Image: Tasnim
Soldiers join the revolution
Upon Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979, the military did not confront the protesters. On February 11, the army declared itself neutral. Despite that, the revolutionaries executed several generals in February and April.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPU
New government
Soon after his return, Khomeini declared the monarchy, the previous government and parliament illegal, and said he would appoint a government "because of the fact that this nation believes in me." According to Iran experts, it was not self-deception but reality.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/FY
The liberal face of the revolution
Mehdi Bazargan, a scholar and pro-democracy activist, had campaigned against the Pahlavi dynasty, for which he had been incarcerated for several years. Khomeini appointed him as his first prime minister, although Bazargan was critical of him as well. Bazargan had called Khomeini a "turbaned Shah" after a meeting with the Ayatollah in Paris. He remained in office for only nine months.
Image: Iranian.com
Occupation of the US Embassy
In November 1979, radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took the embassy staff hostage. The students were fearful of Shah's return to power with US help. Khomeini took advantage of the situation. He dismissed his opponents as "US allies."
Image: Fars
Ali Khamenei – guardian of the revolution
In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was elected by the expert council to succeed Khomeini. Khamenei, to this date, has the ultimate power over all state institutions. Although the 79-year-old does not have the same charisma as his predecessor, he represents the policies of Iranian hardliners who refuse to reform the system and continue to persecute dissidents.