" ... in what appears to be the biggest seizure of Iranian assets abroad since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The legal order, executed 18 months ago by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is under seal and hasn't been made public. The court acted in part because of information provided by the U.S. Treasury Department...
The frozen $2 billion stands at the center of an intensifying legal struggle between Luxembourg's Clearstream Banking S.A., the holder of the Citibank account, and the families of hundreds of U.S. Marines killed or injured in a 1983 terrorist attack on a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon......
That year, the U.S. government froze around $12 billion of Iranian assets in retaliation for the kidnapping of American diplomats and military personnel. While a portion of the funds was returned after the hostages' release, a United Nations body in the Netherlands continues to try and arbitrate the return of the remaining assets, which include bank deposits, gold and real estate......
U.S. officials said that the Obama administration has also finished tailoring a new round of economic sanctions on Iran that could be enacted early next year.
The new penalties seek to hobble Tehran's oil and gas industry by blacklisting Iranian energy, insurance and shipping firms...."
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