Iran face off with United States in ICJ again
Iran is facing off with the United States of America at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case over the US freezing of Iranian assets, shortly after Tehran beat Washington at the same court in a different case.
Court hearings started Monday with "Preliminary Objections" by the US, which seeks to argue that the ICJ does not have the jurisdiction to take up the case, according to the court's schedule.
Iran filed a complaint with the ICJ — the principal judicial organ of the United Nations — on June 14, 2016 over the freezing of billions of dollars in its assets either inside or outside of America under US court rulings.
The latest instance of such rulings occurred on April 20, 2016, when the US Supreme Court upheld an earlier verdict by a lower district court to turn over approximately 1.75 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets to victims of "terrorism."
The Iranian complaint invoked the "Treaty of Amity," signed between Iran and America in 1955. According to the complaint, Iranian assets had, under the treaty, been held "in a custodial 'omnibus account' with Citibank N. A. in New York by the Luxembourg-based international central securities depository Clearstream Banking S.A. to the ultimate benefit of Bank Markazi" or Iran's Central Bank.
The 15-member jury of the ICJ — also known as the World Court — will hear Iran's oral arguments on Wednesday.
A second round of hearings for Iran and the US is scheduled for October 11 and 12.
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