Israeli NGO sues European Investment Bank for suspected ties with Iran

To date, Iran has refused to compensate terror victims and is continuing to provide financial support to terrorist groups throughout the world.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated: JULY 30, 2018 16:05
Missiles and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran (photo credit: NAZANIN TABATABAEE YAZDI/ TIMA VIA REUTERS)
Missiles and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran
(photo credit: NAZANIN TABATABAEE YAZDI/ TIMA VIA REUTERS)
The Israeli legal advocacy organization Shurat HaDin filed a civil action on behalf of American victims of terror attacks against the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the suspicion that the bank maintains financial ties with Iran.
In the wake of media reports in May that the EIB had come under pressure from European Commissioners to support investments by European companies in Iran, Shurat HaDin is attempting to seize Iranian funds that it suspects are held by the EIB, the European Union's lending arm that is owned by the bloc's member states.
At the time, the bank rejected the European Commissioners' proposal on the grounds that such investment in Iran would potentially expose it to American sanctions against Tehran, Politico reported.
Trump quits Iran nuclear deal, reimposes sanctions on Tehran (Reuters)
"The European Investment Bank has never invested in Iran... and does not intend to do so in the future," the bank said in a message sent to The Jerusalem Post.
Over the past several years, victims of terror attacks have successfully sued for damages against Iran in US courts. Shurat HaDin claims that there are over $43 billion in unresolved legal verdicts against the Islamic Republic. To date, the organization says, Iran has refused to compensate the victims and is continuing to provide monetary support to terrorist groups throughout the world.
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The initial proceeding, filed in the Washington, DC district court, maintains that the EIB must identify all Iranian assets held at the bank and turn them over to satisfy the terror victims’ outstanding court awards, Shurat HaDin said.
An EIB spokesperson told the Post that it is not aware that any suit has been filed against it.

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“Iran is a state that finances and carries out terrorism." Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the president and founder of Shurat HaDin, said in a statement.
"No bank in the Western world can carry on business with Iran as long as Iran continues to support murderous terrorist attacks, and as long as the Iranian regime refuses to pay out the judgments awarded against it on behalf of victims of terror," she said.


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