ARGO and the Follow-Up: Iran and the United States | Peace Palace Library |

The Algiers Accords

The Algiers Accords stated that 'it is now and will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs'. The two main principles stipulate that the Unites States "will restore the financial position of Iran, in so far as possible, to that which existed prior to November 14, 1979" and to ensure the mobility and free transfer of all Iranian assets within the United States' jurisdiction. It further stipulates that both Iran and the United States would terminate all litigation between "the government of each party and the nationals of the other," and would settle such claims "through binding arbitration". This established the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, seated in the Hague. In return the Iranians released the 52 Americans they held hostage.

The Iran-US Claims Tribunal

The Iran-US Claims Tribunal (IUSCT) is the largest bilateral international claims adjudication program ever, it is unique in being a program between a Western country and a non-Western country. The Tribunal has finalized over 3,900 cases. The total amount of the awards to American claimants exceeds 2,5 billion $ and around 1 billion $ to the Iranian government. It is still working on some of the most complicated cases; disputes relating to contracts for sales and services of military equipment produced by US companies for Iran before 1979.

Meanwhile in the United States the former hostages have been trying to collect damages from Iran. They won a civil case by default, but then a judge ruled in 2002 that they could not collect damages, and this year the Supreme Court turned down their last appeal. The State Department has argued that damages are forbidden under the Algiers Accords,  and that if the courts interfered, it would become more difficult for the executive branch to conduct foreign policy. The hostages have now asked the US Congress to change the law. Their request comes at a time of new appreciation for the hazards of the Foreign Service, as demonstrated by the September attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  

○ US-Iran Relations and the 1981 Algiers Accords: Decades of Violations - and Silence

Global Warming - distance between America and Europe is steadily increasing.