Specific details are still waiting for the public announcement from the court, but Iran has reported a substantial legal victory in Luxembourg, where $1.6 billion in Iranian assets had been frozen and is to be freed up by the courts.



This is a long-standing legal battle, and just one of many for Iran’s foreign assets. The US requested Luxembourg and the European Union freeze Iran’s money, and they did so. This current legal battle started over a year ago, and Iran had tried to access the same money, unsuccessfully in 2017.



This isn’t just a Luxembourg issue. Iran has many billions of dollars around the world that they struggle to access, and could need they money in particular to pay for coronavirus supplies during the pandemic. That may be impacting the decisions.



Indeed, the US reportedly had agreed to unfreeze some of Iran’s assets in third-party countries to allow them to buy medical equipment. It’s not clear if this is directly related, but the reports of the US easing the release of some such assets could have played a role either directly or indirectly in the court’s decision.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz