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The spectre of possible US military action against Iran shines a light on the multibillion-dollar claims the Islamic republic still has pending against the Americans before an international tribunal.
In a quiet backstreet of the Hague in the Netherlands, a nine-member tribunal continues to adjudicate several multibillion-dollar claims brought by Iran that have been pending for more than four decades. The Iran-US claims tribunal is little known outside of legal and academic circles, but its political history is highly significant.
The tribunal was launched in 1981, two years after the Iran revolution and subsequent US embassy hostage crisis. The treaty established that Iran would arrange for the release of the hostages and the US would repatriate stranded Iranian assets. The tribunal was tasked with adjudicating on the claims.
While the bulk of claims were brought by US nationals against Iran for post-revolution expropriations, Iran also brought claims against the US for its failure to transfer properties bought by Iran from the US and American contractors. Several of those claims remain pending, most of them relating to military equipment bought by Shah Reza Pahlavi prior to the revolution.
Other claims related to more exotic items, such as a rare Stradivarius violin. The exact value of the claims is not public but is believed to be in the tens of billions.
The tribunal held hearings in the largest of these cases in 2019, and it is still deliberating over a ruling. In 2020, the tribunal held the US partially liable in another claim and ordered it to pay approximately $29 million and return certain properties to Iran, including the violin. It is not clear if and to what extent the US has complied with the award.
These claims could play a role in a diplomatic solution in the current US-Iran crisis, as there is some precedent for the US settling some of the cases. In 2016, the Americans paid $400 million to Iran, delivered in cash given constraints under US sanctions, in partial settlement of a claim.
That move was controversial as it almost exactly coincided with the release of five US nationals from Iranian prisons. This led Republicans — including the then presidential candidate Donald Trump — to accuse the Obama administration of paying "ransom money".
The Trump administration has not commented publicly on the still-pending claims and it is unclear to what extent the president and his inner circle are even aware of them.
However, as the tribunal's decision on the largest of the remaining claims draws closer, the possibility arises of Iran using these claims in negotiations with the US to reach a diplomatic solution to the current crisis. Indeed, they could be one of the only bargaining chips Iran has.
Originally published by The Times.
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