Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to President Barack Obama telling him to “quickly fix” a Supreme Court ruling allowing terror victims to collect $2 billion from frozen Iranian assets, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The Supreme Court ruled 6 – 2 in April that 1,300 American victims of Iranian terror and their families were entitled to collect $2 billion in frozen funds, which are currently held in trust pending the final disposition of the lawsuits.
“It is the clear expectation of the Iranian nation that the particular case of property seizure … be quickly fixed by your excellency and that not only the Iranian nation’s rights be restored and the seized property released and returned, but also the damaged caused be fully compensated for,” Ahmadinejad wrote.
“I passionately advise you not to let the historical defamation and bitter incident be recorded under your name,” he added.
The letter was originally posted to a website associated with the former Iranian president, and a copy was later delivered to the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which has overseen American interests in the country since the U.S. embassy was taken over in 1979.
The White House has not commented on the letter.
Ahmadinejad served two terms as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013. He was ineligible to seek a third consecutive term, but would be permitted to seek a return to the office during next year’s presidential election.
Current Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has also criticized the Supreme Court ruling, calling it “hostile and illegal.”
The Obama administration has been under fire for releasing $400 million out of $1.7 billion in other frozen Iranian funds, at the same time five American hostages were released in January. At the time an Iranian general claimed that the money was paid as ransom.
The criticism was reignited last week when The Wall Street Journal reported that the $400 million had been converted to foreign currencies and flown to Iran in an unmarked plane. One of the hostages said last week that Iranian authorities would not release them until a second plane arrived in Tehran.
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