By
Kristen McCannon
In 1981, the United States and Iran signed the Algiers
Accords, ending the Iranian Hostage Crisis and providing a framework for the
countries’ post-diplomatic relations. Among its other provisions, the Algiers
Accords created a mechanism in which the governments of US and Iran, as well as
their respective citizens, could resolve financial, contractual and property
disputes. The
Iran-US Claims Tribunal began hearing cases in The Hague later
that year.
The Tribunal was a novel form of dispute resolution between
states that had terminated previously existing diplomatic relations. And unlike
similar mechanisms created to handle the United States’ relations with communist
China and Cuba, the Tribunal also proved to be a rousing success. Since 1981,
judges on the Tribunal have granted roughly $3 billion in awards after
resolving 4700 claims at a success
rate of 95%.
The Tribunal was initially only intended to last for a few
years, quickly wrapping up all outstanding claims. Many of those initial cases
dealt with the seizure of American property after the fall of the Shah, and the
freezing of Iranian assets in the United States during the Hostage Crisis.
These cases were relatively easy to settle based on the Algiers Accords, which
required the release of all such assets.
