text of president clinton s letter to congress on iranian assets here is a press release from the white house text of president clinton s letter to congress on iranian assets to national desk contact white house press office washington may following is a letter president clinton wrote to congress on iranian assets to the congress of the united states i hereby report to the congress on developments since the last presidential report on november concerning the national emergency with respect to iran that was declared in executive order no of november and matters relating to executive order no of october this report is submitted pursuant to section c of the international emergency economic powers act u s c c and section c of the international security and development cooperation act of u s c aa c this report covers events through march the last report dated november covered events through october there have been no amendments to the iranian transactions regulations itrs cfr part or to the iranian assets control regulations iacrs cfr part since the last report the office of foreign assets control fac of the department of the treasury continues to process applications for import licenses under the itrs however as previously reported recent amendments to the itrs have resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of applications received relating to the importation of nonfungible iranian origin goods during the reporting period the customs service has continued to effect numerous seizures of iranian origin merchandise primarily carpets for violation of the import prohibitions of the itrs fac and customs service investi gations of these violations have resulted in forfeiture actions and the imposition of civil monetary penalties additional forfeiture and civil penalty actions are under review the iran united states claims tribunal the tribunal established at the hague pursuant to the algiers accords continues to make progress in arbitrating the claims before it since the last report the tribunal has rendered awards for a total of awards of that total have been awards in favor of american claimants of these were awards on agreed terms authorizing and approving payment of settlements negotiated by the parties and were decisions adjudicated on the merits the tribunal has issued decisions dismissing claims on the merits and decisions dismissing claims for jurisdictional reasons of the remaining awards approved the withdrawal of cases and were in favor of iranian claimants as of march awards to successful american claimants from the security account held by the nv settlement bank stood at as of march the security account has fallen below the required balance of million times iran has periodically replenished the account as required by the algiers accords by transferring funds from the separate account held by the nv settlement bank in which interest on the security account is deposited iran has also replenished the account with the proceeds from the sale of iranian origin oil imported into the united states pursuant to transactions licensed on a case by case basis by fac iran has not however replenished the account since the last oil sale deposit on october the aggregate amount that has been transferred from the interest account to the security account is as of march the total amount in the security account was and the total amount in the interest account was the tribunal continues to make progress in the arbitration of claims of u s nationals for or more since the last report nine large claims have been decided more than percent of the nonbank claims have now been disposed of through adjudication settlement or voluntary withdrawal leaving such claims on the docket the larger claims the resolution of which has been slowed by their complexity are finally being resolved sometimes with sizable awards to the u s claimants for example two claimants were awarded more than million each by the tribunal in october as anticipated by the may agreement settling the claims of u s nationals for less than the foreign claims settlement commission fcsc has continued its review of claims the fcsc has issued decisions in claims for total awards of more than million the fcsc expects to complete its adjudication of the remaining claims in early in coordination with concerned government agencies the department of state continues to present united states government claims against iran as well as responses by the united states government to claims brought against it by iran in november the united states filed volumes of supporting information in case b claims iran s claim against the united states for damages relating to its foreign military sales program in february of this year the united states participated in a daylong prehearing conference in several other cases involving military equipment iran also filed a new interpretative dispute alleging that the failure of u s courts to enforce an award against a u s corporation violated the algiers accords as reported in november jose maria ruda president of the tribunal tendered his resignation on october no successor has yet been named judge ruda s resignation will take effect as soon as a successor becomes available to take up his duties the situation reviewed above continues to involve important diplomatic financial and legal interests of the united states and its nationals iran s policy behavior presents challenges to the national security and foreign policy of the united states the iacrs issued pursuant to executive order no continue to play an important role in structuring our relationship with iran and in enabling the united states to implement properly the algiers accords similarly the itrs issued pursuant to executive order no continue to advance important objectives in combatting inter national terrorism i shall exercise the powers at my disposal to deal with these problems and will report periodically to the congress on significant developments william j clinton the white house may nigel allen toronto ontario canada ae freenet carleton ca
