Victims Of Iranian Terror Sue INSTEX In Paris Over Commercial Activities With Tehran

PARIS, July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American terror victims whose loved ones were murdered and maimed in a terrorist attack perpetrated in Israel by extremist organizations financed by Iran, have brought a civil action in Paris against the international trade vehicle established by the Europeans to salvage the collapsing Iranian Nuclear Deal (JCPOA).

The family of the victims, who hold an unsatisfied $178,500,000 US federal court judgment, have sued the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) in a first of its kind court proceeding, demanding that any funds, oil or other commodities owned by Tehran or owed to Tehran by any 3rd party, must be paid over to the terror victims in satisfaction of their judgment. The lawsuit is being litigated against INSTEX in Paris where it is incorporated. 

The family is represented by attorneys Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Tel-Aviv, Charles Meyer of Paris and Robert Tolchin of New York. 

Prohibited by the United States government sanctions from utilizing the international banking system and fearful of the American trade embargo, most European and Asian companies have been deterred from engaging in commercial relations with Iran. Iran has threatened to abandon the JCPOA and increase its enrichment of uranium if a commercial solution was not found to allow it to continue to export its oil. The governments of France, Britain and Germany, therefore, established INSTEX to allow Europe and other parties to continue to purchase Iranian oil under a barter trade system that circumvents the banking system and US sanctions. INSTEX is a special-purpose vehicle established as a last ditch means of an exchange mechanism that avoids direct financial transfers by offsetting balances between importers and exporters on the European side.

The victim family, the Brauns, hold a federal court judgment against Iran for $178,500,000. The  unsatisfied judgment was handed down against the outlawed Tehran regime as a result of an attack perpetrated by the Hamas terrorist group in Jerusalem, which was proven to have been sponsored by Iran. The attorneys for the family are demanding that the INSTEX company restrain any property belonging to judgment creditor Iran.

The civil action, which comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, threatens to ratchet up the pressure on the already cash starved Iranian government. The family is demanding that INSTEX immediately freeze any funds or property payable to Iran. 

The Braun's daughter and granddaughter Chaya Zissel Braun was only three months old when she was brutally rammed by a car driven by a Hamas terrorist in Jerusalem on October 14, 2014.  Chaya Zissel was thrown from her stroller and died from massive head injuries. Other family members were injured as well.  

American terror victims hold approximately $43 billion dollars in unsatisfied Iranian judgments. 

According to the family's attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner:  "Its shocking that the Europeans would continue to assist the outlaw regime in Tehran in its commercial activities when they fully know that it maintains its support and funding of terrorism against Jews. Iran boasted after signing the nuclear deal that it intended to increase its payments to terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. We are suing INSTEX in Paris in order to satisfy our court judgments which Iran has been so desperate to avoid paying. Any Iranian property we find anywhere in the world will be seized by the terror victims who lost loved ones in the heinous attacks paid for by Iran.  The terror victims whose lives were devastated by Iranian backed terrorism will not allow Europe to have business as usual with Tehran."

SOURCE Nitsana Darshan-Leitner Law