Iran says $1.6 Bn claimed by US released in Luxembourg

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday the country had won a legal "victory" over $1.6 billion of its assets that had long been frozen on a US request in Luxembourg.Tehran and Washington have long been arch enemies and tensions have risen sharply since President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew from a nuclear accord and reimposed stinging sanctions.In a separate dispute, a New York court in 2012 ordered Iran to pay $7 billion in damages over the September 11 attacks, arguing that it had aided Al-Qaeda by allowing its militants to travel through its territory.Iran has rejected the accusation and refused to pay the money.Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting Sunday that "our central bank, our foreign ministry [have] recently won a very good victory in a legal battle"."$1.6 billion of our money was in Luxembourg and the Americans had put their hands on it," he said.After trying for months, "we succeeded some days ago and freed this money from the Americans' grasp," he declared.