Tehran to ‘look into’ Iran funds deposited in US banks

By Basher al-Bayati

TEHRAN

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday vowed to form a special committee to look into how Iranian funds were deposited in U.S. banks despite warnings by earlier governments that they could be seized by U.S. authorities.

Zarif made the assertions at a joint press conference held in capital Tehran with his Macedonian counterpart, Nikola Poposki.

The Iranian foreign minister also voiced his country's rejection of a recent order by the U.S. Supreme Court to seize $2 billion of frozen Iranian funds.

The funds, according to the court’s decision, will be used to "compensate" the relatives of 241 U.S. marines killed in a 1983 truck-bomb attack in Lebanese capital Beirut, for which the U.S. blames Iran and Hezbollah.

Tehran and the Lebanese militia group, for their part, deny any involvement in the attack.

"The Iranian government has decided to form a special committee to investigate how such [Iranian] funds reached the U.S. despite warnings [by previous governments] of the possibility that Washington could eventually confiscate them," Zarif said.

On Oct. 23, 1983, Lebanese capital Beirut was rocked by two truck bombs that targeted two buildings housing U.S. and French military forces. The twin blasts killed 299 soldiers (241 U.S. and 58 French), six civilians and the two attackers.

Ali Abo Rezeg contributed to this report