Judge and Vice-President of The International Court of Justice Kirill Gevorgian (second, right) starts reading the verdict of the Court, which issued its judgment in a dispute between Iran and the United States over frozen Iranian state bank accounts in The Hague, Netherlands, March 30, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
The International Court of Justice’s ruling that Washington unlawfully froze Iranian assets and owes compensation to Teheran not only exposes the United States as a rogue state but brings to light its foreign policy failure, analysts said.
They were reacting to an ICJ ruling on March 30 that Washington had violated international law by illegally enabling its courts to freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Iran, or CBI, and that it owed damages to Iranian companies.
However, the court also said it did not have jurisdiction over an estimated $1.8 billion in frozen assets that the CBI – also known as Bank Markazi – held in a Citibank account in New York.
The analysts said the verdict helps shed light on other countries, like Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela, and Cuba, whose assets were also being held in similar circumstances.
Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, said this situation “shows the absurdity of the existing international structure” and that improvements must be made. She noted that the ICJ stated that the confiscation of Iranian money violates international law but the ICJ also said it has no jurisdiction over most of the funds
This legal battle was pursued by Iran on June 14, 2016 after it accused the US of violating the Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights signed between Teheran and Washington on Aug 15, 1955. Though the US withdrew from the treaty in 2018, the ICJ ruled that it was still valid.
Both Iran and the US welcomed the outcome and both claimed victory.
Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, said this situation “shows the absurdity of the existing international structure” and that improvements must be made.
She noted that the ICJ stated that the confiscation of Iranian money violates international law but the ICJ also said it has no jurisdiction over most of the funds because they came from Iran's central bank, which is not a commercial bank and therefore not part of the treaty.
“Isn't the Central Bank of Iran part of the Iranian nation?” Sulaeman asked. “The critical question is, why can the US seize other nations' money at her will?”
Sulaeman said not only Iran but also Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and others have been victims of an “unfair international structure”, which needs to be reformed so that no state can “arbitrarily” take the money of another.
“The US claims victory because in reality most of Iran's money is still in their hands. Iran claimed victory from a legal aspect, for them proving that the US is violating international law is a victory,” she added.
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The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed the ICJ ruling was “proof of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s righteousness” and “the violations by the US government”, in a series of tweets on March 31.
“The fact that court’s ruling requires the US to make reparations for the losses is the key reason for the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s demand. In this important verdict, the ICJ correctly rejected all the fake defenses of the US,” one of its tweets stated.
In 2016, the US’ Supreme Court ruled that Iranian assets worth almost $2 billion frozen in the US must be paid to American families of the victims of attacks blamed on Iran, including the bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983. Teheran has repeatedly rejected all such allegations of involvement.
Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a former professor at the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Faculty of International Relations, said that the ICJ has not issued any verdict against Iran but two verdicts against the US, which means that “Iran has won the case”.
US President Joe Biden’s administration “feels very much empty handed” with regard to its foreign policy, Khoshcheshm said. It is “completely understandable why they do not want to acknowledge and admit another failure in foreign policy”, he added.
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“Now we need to wait and see if the US would comply with the rule of law, which is very much unlikely,” Khoshcheshm said, citing the “American exceptionalism” of former president Barack Obama and “America first” attitude of former president Donald Trump.
Khoshcheshm said it is not expected for the US to play by the rules or abide by the law. “The US has proved to be a rogue state,” he added.
Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com