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Rouhani vows to sue US for assets confiscation

Politics Materials 10 May 2016 14:16 (UTC +04:00)
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said his administration will file a complaint in the International Court of Justice against the US court decision on confiscating a part of the Islamic Republic’s assets in an American bank account.
Rouhani vows to sue US for assets confiscation

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 10

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said his administration will file a complaint in the International Court of Justice against the US court decision on confiscating a part of the Islamic Republic's assets in an American bank account.

Rouhani made the remarks addressing a gathering of people in the Kerman Province on May 10, Iran's state-run TV channel IRINN reported.

On Apr. 20, a US court ruled that $2 billion of Iranian assets had to be turned over to the families of the American victims of a 1983 bombing in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, and other attacks blamed on Iran. The Islamic Republic has denied any role in the attacks.

President Rouhani also blamed the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for the lack of proper measures to safeguard the assets at the time.

"The former administration put $2 billion of the nation's assets in the control of the US," Rouhani said.

According to Iranian officials, a decision by the former government in 2008 to purchase the dollar denominated securities paved way for the assets' confiscation.

Rouhani also said that although there was a high risk of confiscation of Iran's $2 billion in the US, and the former government had 10 months to take the money out of the US, the former government failed to do so.

The president added that the former government must be held accountable for the loss.

Rouhani further said his administration has set up a committee to probe into the issue and it is expected to release a report on the former government's oversight and poor management in safeguarding the assets.

The confiscated money belongs to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). The assets have been previously blocked under the US sanctions.

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