Iran's Seized Assets Used for 'Purchasing US Bonds'

In response to the seizure of two billion dollars of Iran's assets in the US, several senior government officials have described the actions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration in purchasing US government bonds and failing to withdraw these assets after sanctions as 'recklessness', 'imprudence', and a precursor to the seizure of assets. According to these officials from Rouhani's government, the retention of a portion of the securities purchased in 2007 and 2008 at Citibank in the US allowed 'American claimants to seize them'. The US Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, April 20, that two billion dollars of Iran's frozen assets would be paid to the families of American victims of the 1983 bombings at the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and other attacks 'related' to the Islamic Republic. In this context, Hamid Baidi-Nejad, the Director General of Political and International Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, stated on Saturday, April 23, that 'the purchase of US government bonds as a hostile country was not in line with Iran's overarching policy'. According to Mr. Baidi-Nejad, at that time there were cases against Iran in the US, and 'the amendment of the new state immunity law in the US allowed for the seizure of state assets to pay American victims'. According to the state news agency IRNA, this member of Iran's nuclear negotiation team also described the failure to withdraw these assets at the onset of severe financial and banking sanctions from the US, as well as the 'Peterson case', as 'clear ignorance' and 'recklessness' of the previous administration's officials. The Peterson case pertains to the lawsuit by the families of Americans killed in the 1983 Beirut bombing. This bombing is recorded as 'Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran' in a court in New York. Other cases related to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which left 19 dead, and other attacks carried out by 'Iran-linked' militant groups have also been raised. Last year, lawyers for the Central Bank of Iran requested a Supreme Court review of the rulings issued by American courts against its assets and properties. However, according to Mr. Baidi-Nejad, the Central Bank's objection to the initial court ruling in 2012, one year before the Geneva agreement, 'eliminated the possibility of political intervention' in this case. Concurrently, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, also emphasized similar criticisms, stating that during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration, despite 'warnings' from experts and managers of the Central Bank, 'negligence occurred in the purchase of securities and dollar investments, and adequate caution and necessary precautions were not taken'. Previously, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, described the US Supreme Court ruling as 'a theft of Iran's property', and Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, also stated that the Islamic Republic does not recognize this ruling 'as legitimate'. 'The seizure of assets has nothing to do with the JCPOA.' Meanwhile, in recent days, some principlist media outlets have criticized Hassan Rouhani's government for its performance in implementing the Vienna nuclear agreement, referencing the US Supreme Court ruling. In response to these criticisms, IRNA reported on Saturday, quoting 'an informed source at the International Legal Affairs Center of the Presidency', that the initial court ruling regarding the seizure of Iran's assets 'has been in US courts for 10 years and is unrelated to the JCPOA'. According to this informed source, in 2007-2008, when Iran's foreign currency income from oil sales increased significantly, officials of the time 'purchased quantities of securities through a Luxembourg broker (named Clearstream)'. He added that 'the broker kept part of these securities in Europe and part physically at Citibank in the US, which allowed American claimants to seize them'. This informed source mentioned 'in another case, about 9 million dollars from an arbitration award issued in favor of Iran has also been detained by the same claimants, and we have protested to the US Supreme Court and are awaiting its decision'. However, he did not provide details about this case. 'We will use all means to recover the principal and interest of the money.' Meanwhile, Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president, said on Saturday that 'some people are pleased to associate this incident with this government while the government had no role in this incident'. According to Mr. Jahangiri, during the previous administration, 'with complete imprudence, two billion dollars of American bonds were purchased and kept in a European bank, allowing the US to easily block these bonds and then seize them'. He emphasized that the US 'brazenly robbed the Central Bank's resources in a European bank', and the government 'is using all its tools to recover the principal and interest from the US'. Mr. Jahangiri further stated that the banking system 'suffered more than the oil sector during the sanctions'. According to ISNA, he emphasized that the oil sector benefited from the achievements of the Vienna nuclear agreement, and the banking system should also benefit from these achievements. Earlier, in Esfand of last year, Hamid Tehranfar, the supervisory deputy of the Central Bank, reported on the bank's efforts to 'alleviate the concerns' of foreign banks to cooperate with Iranian banks after the Vienna nuclear agreement, but stated that 'Iranophobia in the banking sector' continues. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly stated that the US, by fostering doubt and fear in the international banking network, is effectively violating its commitments under the Vienna nuclear agreement, and 'foreign banks are unwilling to deal with Iran for fear of the US'. Chris Backmeier, a US State Department official, rejected the Supreme Leader's claim, stating that 'we act in good faith and it has never been our intention to create ambiguity or deceive anyone'. At the same time, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, said on Saturday: 'Apparently, some issues and obstacles created in the path of banking and commercial transactions of the European banking system with Iran have been resolved, and the US has officially announced that it will no longer obstruct the banking and commercial transactions of European countries.' The Iranian Foreign Ministry reported to the Iranian Parliament on the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, stating that all Iranian banks 'except for a few that are under non-nuclear sanctions' have the ability to use SWIFT. SWIFT is an organization that enables secure, fast, and low-cost financial communications between banks worldwide. Iranian banks were connected to this system until 2011, but after the intensification of banking and oil sanctions, the connection of sanctioned Iranian banks to this system was cut off on March 17 of that year.