WORLD : Iran to Pay Amoco $600 Million for Facilities Seized in 1979
Iran agreed today to pay the American oil company Amoco $600 million for facilities seized during the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to an official of the claims panel.
It was the first major settlement of more than $1.8 billion worth of U.S. corporate oil claims filed against Iran at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, arbitrating financial claims by the two nations since 1981.
Settlement of the oil claims would be a major step toward resuming oil trading ties between Iran and the United States.
American and Iranian officials have stressed that their talks deal only with financial arbitration and do not consider the fate of the six American hostages still being held in Lebanon. But another, smaller settlement was reached at the tribunal last month shortly after two American hostages were freed in Lebanon.
The tribunal has three American, three Iranian and three third-nation arbitrators, and has so far settled $3.2-billion worth of government-to-government and private claims, including today’s settlement.
Oil accounts for 90% of Iran’s foreign exchange earnings.
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