Cite as: 578 U. S. ____ (2016)
Opinion of the Court
To place beyond dispute the availability of some of the Executive Order No. 13599-blocked assets for satisfaction of judgments rendered in terrorism cases, Congress passed the statute at issue here: §502 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, 126 Stat. 1258, 22 U.S.C. §8772. Enacted as a freestanding measure, not as an amendment to the FSIA or the TRIA,[1] §8772 provides that, if a court makes specified findings, “a financial asset...shall be subject to execution...in order to satisfy any judgment to the extent of any compensatory damages awarded against Iran for damages for personal injury or death caused by” the acts of terrorism enumerated in the FSIA’s terrorism exception. §8772(a)(1). Section 8772(b) defines as available for execution by holders of terrorism judgments against Iran “the financial assets that are identified in and the subject of proceedings in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Peterson et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran et al., Case No. 10 Civ. 4518 (BSJ) (GWG), that were restrained by restraining notices and levies secured by the plaintiffs in those proceedings.”
Before allowing execution against an asset described in §8772(b), a court must determine that the asset is:
- “(A) held in the United States for a foreign securities intermediary doing business in the United States;
- “(B) a blocked asset (whether or not subsequently unblocked)...; and
- “(C) equal in value to a financial asset of Iran, including an asset of the central bank or monetary authority of the Government of Iran....” §8772(a)(1).
In addition, the court in which execution is sought must
- ↑ Title 22 U. S. C. §8772(a)(1) applies “notwithstanding any other provision of law, including any provision of law relating to sovereign immunity, and preempt[s] any inconsistent provision of State law.”
