New England Merchants National Bank and Others v. Iran Power Generation and Transmission Company and Others

Abstract

Sovereign immunity — Foreign States and State-owned corporations — Immunity from pre-judgment attachment of property — Waiver — Requirement that waiver of immunity be express — Whether United States-Iran Treaty of Amity, 1955, constitutes waiver of immunity from pre-judgment attachment — Effect of Presidential Order blocking Iranian assets — Whether depriving Iran of immunity from pre-judgment attachment — Nature of sovereign immunity — Whether a right or merely a privilege accorded by one State to another — The law of the United States