Bank Tejarat's Claim for Damages from Sanctions Registered in EU Court

The CEO of Bank Tejarat Iran announced on Saturday that the bank's official complaint against the European Union for damages caused by sanctions was registered in the EU court on January 24. According to a report by the state news agency IRNA, on Saturday, February 28, Mohammad Ebrahim Moghadam, the CEO of the bank, stated that the EU sanctions have inflicted direct and indirect damages on Bank Tejarat, including the freezing of the bank's accounts and a 'significant reduction' in foreign exchange operation revenues. Mr. Moghadam mentioned that after the EU court's ruling to remove Bank Tejarat from the sanctions list, the bank, in cooperation with international auditing firms, assessed the damages caused by the sanctions and gathered other documents. The CEO of Bank Tejarat announced that the complaint regarding the damages incurred by the bank due to EU sanctions was registered last week on January 24 in the judicial authorities of the EU. Mr. Moghadam did not specify the damages inflicted by the EU sanctions on Bank Tejarat. The EU sanctioned Bank Tejarat in 2011 along with several other Iranian companies and institutions for alleged involvement in Iran's nuclear program. However, on Thursday, February 21, 2016, the EU's High Court annulled the sanctions imposed by EU member states against Bank Tejarat and entities affiliated with the Iranian shipping company. At that time, the European court stated that it had not received sufficient evidence supporting the bank's involvement in the proliferation of nuclear weapons or its role in circumventing sanctions imposed against Iran. Despite this ruling, the EU again sanctioned Bank Tejarat and 32 Iranian shipping companies in April 2016. Ultimately, in January 2016, with the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, Bank Tejarat, along with other Iranian banks, was removed from the sanctions list. Previously, Bank Mellat had submitted a complaint to the UK High Court for $3.98 billion in damages caused by sanctions. Ali Rastgar, the then-CEO of Bank Mellat, claimed in March 2016 that the UK High Court ruled 'in favor' of the bank in this case and that the compensation was to be 'paid by June 2016.' In June, Mr. Rastgar made contradictory statements to his previous remarks, announcing that a 'strategic committee' had been formed to pursue the receipt of these damages. Since then, no report has been published regarding the payment of the requested compensation to Bank Mellat.