What Options Tehran Has in the Face of US Seizure of $2bn of Iranian Bonds? (Ali Omidi, Iran Review)

On April 20, 2016, following a lot of legal and political tug of war, the Supreme Court of the United States approved with a majority vote a decision by an American lower court for seizing two billion dollars worth of Iran's assets, which were trusted to a Citibank account in New York in the form of bonds. This decision by the Supreme Court and subsequent support of the US Department of State for the decision was so bitter that Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, described it as explicit theft of Iran's assets. Before that, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said in an interview with the New Yorker that the measure was similar to “highway robbery.” During two rounds of talks with John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, on the sidelines of the United Nations conference on climate change on April 21 and 22, 2016, in New York, Zarif condemned the measure by the US Supreme Court and called for its revocation. Evidence shows that Kerry has not promised anything to Zarif in this regard because in view of the United States’ Constitution and the principle of division of powers, the executive branch is not able to revoke the decisions of the Supreme Court. Therefore, this ruling is considered as final and Iran's money and assets are practically gone.

http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/What-Options-Tehran-Has-in-the-Face-of-US-Seizure-of-2bn-of-Iranian-Bonds-.htm