Ahmadinejad's Letter to Obama: Release Iran's Assets

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, in a letter to the President of the United States, called for the return of two billion dollars of Iran's seized assets and compensation for damages to Iran. According to various news websites including Tabnak, Ahmadinejad's letter was written on Sunday, August 7, and delivered to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which serves as the U.S. interests section. In his letter, Ahmadinejad referred to Barack Obama's statements and letters regarding 'repairing relations with the Iranian people' and added: 'It was expected that during your presidency, the past would be rectified, or at least new injustices against the Iranian people would be prevented.' He pointed out the seizure of two billion dollars of Iran's assets by a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, writing: 'The Iranian people expect this specific issue... to be resolved by you promptly... the resources to be fully returned and damages compensated.' The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 20 of this year that two billion dollars of Iran's frozen assets in the U.S. should be paid to the families of American victims of several terrorist operations attributed to Iran, including the 1983 bombings of U.S. Marines and French soldiers in Beirut, Lebanon. A special working group of Hassan Rouhani's government had accused Ahmadinejad's administration officials of not taking 'effective action' to remove purchased bonds from the reach of the U.S. judicial system despite court rulings and 'warnings from foreign sources, relevant domestic centers, and high institutions.' In response, Ahmadinejad's office, without denying the purchase of these bonds during his administration, attributed the seizure of two billion dollars of Iran's assets to the 'weakness' of Hassan Rouhani's government in the international arena and the 'arrogance' of American officials. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad wrote in his letter to the U.S. president: 'Although I believe that in any case, the Iranian people will reclaim all their violated rights, I kindly advise you not to let this stain of shame and dark point and bitter incident be recorded in your name... and deepen historical distrust.' The former president of Iran emphasized that his letter 'absolutely has no political aspect' and is 'written solely from a human rights perspective and in defense of the legitimate rights' of the Iranian people. During his presidency, Ahmadinejad wrote letters to George W. Bush, the U.S. president, and several other Western leaders and global figures, including the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, and the Pope, the leader of the world's Catholics, which received no response. He had sent a congratulatory message to Barack Obama upon his election victory, expressing hope that Obama would place 'a swift and clear response to the demand for a correct and fundamental transformation in U.S. domestic and foreign policies' at the forefront of all his government's programs and actions. This letter from Ahmadinejad also went unanswered. Reports indicate that Barack Obama wrote several letters to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in recent years, and Khamenei responded to some of these letters. Ahmadinejad's correspondence with U.S. presidents during and after his presidency marks a departure from the previous lack of public letter-writing between Iranian presidents or former presidents and U.S. presidents.