Iran’s central bank in 2018 filed a complaint against Clearstream, wanting to recover $4.9bn in frozen assets plus interests. A group of 152 individuals--victims of the 9/11 terror attacks or their families--had claimed compensation in 2016 in an ongoing legal battle between the US and Iran.

A district court had already ruled in 2019 that the US judgment could not be enforced in Luxembourg, but the matter was still being discussed in the court’s second chamber.

The Luxembourg lawyers of Iran’s central bank--Fabio Trevisan and Laure-Hélène Gaicio-Fievez--said that courts had now settled that funds cannot be transferred outside the country without an exequatur decision by authorities in the grand duchy, permitting the exercise of a right within its jurisdiction.

Had courts decided otherwise, it could have been easier for US lawyers to claim the money.

In April 2020, a Luxembourg court said $1.6bn held by Clearstream would not be transferred to 9/11 victims, saying the seizure demand was inadmissible under national law. However, Iran could also not claim the money back as legal procedures were and still are ongoing, pending appeals.

This story was first published in French on Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.