U.S. Delivers Art to Iran That Had Been Impounded Since 1979

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Fourteen pieces of American art purchased by Iran nearly four decades ago, but blocked for export from the United States because of the 1979 Iranian revolution and rupture in relations, have finally been delivered, both nations said Friday.

Delivery of the art, described by American officials as architectural drawings bought in 1978 by the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, came against the backdrop of a slightly improved atmosphere in the estranged ties between Iran and the United States since the agreement resolving Iran’s disputed nuclear work was reached in July.

But neither side portrayed the art delivery as having anything to do with any possible broader reconciliation. Iran’s government, which took the unusual step of announcing the delivery, portrayed it as a partial vindication of a much deeper historical grievance with the United States over impounded property.

American officials, who appeared to have been taken by surprise at the Iranian announcement, said the art delivery was the outcome of a claim filed by the Iranians two years ago with a tribunal created in 1981 under an agreement known as the Algiers Accords.

That tribunal, based in The Hague, created a mechanism for Iranians and Americans to seek impounded assets from each other’s country after the 1979 revolution and the break in diplomatic ties that followed the Iranian seizure of the United States Embassy in Tehran, where 52 American hostages were held for 444 days.

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency, which broke the news of the art delivery, made no mention of when the Iranians had first filed a claim with the tribunal, saying only that “following the Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the U.S. government refrained to deliver them to Iran.”

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