US Measures against Iran Contravene JCPOA: Vice-Speaker
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Vice-Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard condemned a recent decision by the US government to seize Iran’s assets, saying such moves are in violation of the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, also known as the JCPOA.
There is no doubt that the US has taken some measures in blatant violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Aboutorabi-Fard told the Tasnim News Agency.
“The Americans’ recent move to seize $2 billion of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s assets are in serious and clear conflict with the spirit of all international regulations and the independence of central banks,” he stressed.
Aboutorabi-Fard added that the move is tantamount to “banditry” and indicates the excessive demands of the US’s judicial system from Iran, which “unfortunately, have been backed by the Obama administration.”
Last Wednesday, the US Supreme Court upheld the Congress and President Barack Obama’s actions to hold Iran financially responsible for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 Marines at their barracks in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The ruling allows the families of the Marines and victims of other attacks that courts have linked to Iran to seize some $2 billion in assets held in New York’s Citibank, belonging to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which has been blocked under US sanctions.
In 2012, the US Congress passed a law that specifically directed the American bank to turn over the Iranian assets to victims’ families. Obama also entered the battle in an effort to force the payments on Iran.
The JCPOA, the comprehensive nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), came into force on January 16.