UK to be fined for ban on Bank Mellat

The British government is expected to pay a compensation bill for hundreds of millions pounds over Iran’s Bank Mellat, lawyers have said.

Lawyers for the Iranian bank declared that they intended to claim for £500 million for loss of business between 2009 and 2013, The Telegraph reported.

It comes after Britainâ„¢s Supreme Court overturned a ruling against Bank Mellat over its alleged links to Tehran’s nuclear energy program, saying the UK government was wrong to have imposed sanctions on the bank.

The court is expected to order the Treasury later this month to pay damages the bank has suffered as a result of sanctions.

Å“The Mellat bank was very profitable and it had to close down its entire operation in both Britain and Europe,” said Sarosh Zaiwalla, a senior partner at the bankâ„¢s law firm, Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors.

At the beginning of 2012, the US and the EU imposed sanctions on Iranâ„¢s oil and financial sectors, aiming to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

The Islamic Republic rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

SSM/HE