Thursday 13 May 2021
Iranian Assets in Luxembourg not Transferred to US
Keywords: Iran, Iranian Nuclear Crisis, Luxembourg, USA
7 forum postsTEHRAN (IRNA) – Iran’s Central Bank (CBI) said Luxembourg’s judiciary system has stopped transfer of its assets to the U.S.
The CBI announced on Thursday that according to the Hague branch of the Presidential Centre for International Legal Affairs (CILA), the Luxembourg court confirmed the non-enforcement of U.S. domestic laws for their courts and the need to recognize the issued votes from American courts by Luxembourg in the property file of the Central Bank before the Clearstream institute.
The bank said a similar act has been taken by Italy and France in the past.
The notification also added that based on the recent legislative changes in the United States, U.S. courts can directly order the transfer of some assets that directly or indirectly belong to Iranian institutions including the Central Bank of Iran to the United States, regardless of their location.
The law explicitly ignores the national sovereignty of other countries.
It is emphasized in the announcement that the Central Bank of Iran has timely requested the Luxembourg district Court to issue an order banning the transfer of its assets just because of a US decision and by the Clearstream institute.
The Luxembourg court endorsed the request and insisted that any decree of a foreign court must be recognized and declared as effective by the courts of Luxembourg before it can be enforced in the national territory of that country.
It is also specified in the announcement that Luxembourg’s recent decision explicitly prevents the Clearstream to voluntarily comply with the U.S. decision and transfer the assets of the Central Bank of Iran to the United States without previous issue of the final order in Luxembourg identifying and implementing this decision. In case of violation, the Clearstream Institute will be sentenced to pay a heavy fine.
daryani (14 May 2021, 07:38)
THANK YOU Luxembourg!!
MORADI (14 May 2021, 08:09)
Thank you Luxemburg an thank you europe for ressiting american imperialism.
Farid Boluja (14 May 2021, 10:44)
This money is blocked anyway, Iranians cannot use it. So "thank you Luxembour" for what?
Behnam Radpoor (14 May 2021, 11:36)
As an Iranian I should be happy because this is an Iranian asset, belobging to the Iranian people. But in reality, when this money will be returned to Iran it will be used for wars in Irak, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in... Nothing will be used for the prosperity of ordinary Iranians. So, I prefer this money be blocked until there is a regime change in Iran. I say that despite the fact that I live in Iran and currently our conditions are very hard because of the hyper inflation.
Texan Expat (14 May 2021, 19:58)
Europe still hopes to revive the nuclear deal, but hardliners in Tehran are trying to kill it. In any case, in two months there will be a new president in Iran and he is expected to be a narrow minded anti-Westerner, worse than Ahmadinejad.
Juliano di M. (14 May 2021, 22:05)
The Iranians’ money did not happen to be in Luxembourg. They were undoubtedly using this financial platform to bypass sanctions and other schemes. Last year, the European Commission launched legal actions against Luxembourg over laws to prevent money laundering. This small country of 600,000 people hosts as much foreign direct investment as the United States and much more than China. IMF researches shows that a large part of that money is parked in shell companies set up by multinationals, with no real business activities in Luxembourg.
Texan Expat (16 May 2021, 09:40)
Iran is doing its best to make the nuclear deal fail. Currently, the war in Gaza is helping them. To the general public, this may seem weird because Iran is in desperate need of money. This proves that those who govern Iran are looking after Russia’s interests, not Iran’s. So what their foreign minister said about Russia’s influence makes sense. Iran became a very poor country so that Russia could become great.
Russia lives on its oil & gas exports. It doesn’t want a big rival like Iran. Iran has the potential to produce and export as much oil & gas as Russia or Saudi Arabia. In fact, Iran has more reserves than Saudi Arabia. In this crowded market, nobody wants Iranian oil.