Some Iranian officials , including the chief of the Central Bank of Iran ( CBI ) , have placed some blame for the Citibank account 's seizure on the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013 . The Foreign Ministry 's director for political and security affairs , Hamid Baidinejad , said it was " reckless " for the previous administration to have invested in U.S. securities . In a post on the CBI 's website , its chief pointed out that : " Although CBI experts and senior officials had warned against investing in dollar denominated securities , the government of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went ahead and purchased it , thus paving the way for the damage done to our assets . " Hamid Baeidinejad , a senior Foreign Ministry official , criticized the former head of the CBI for investing in a " hostile country " . The decision came at a delicate time for relations between Iran and Western nations , which were removing sanctions on Iran after its compliance with an agreement for curtailing development of its nuclear enrichment program . The agreement stipulated that once Iranian compliance with the terms of the agreement was verified , most sanctions against Iran would be lifted , including all sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council as well as nuclear-related European Union and U.S. sanctions ; U.S. sanctions against Iran for terrorism , human rights abuses , and ballistic missiles would not be affected . In mid-January 2016 , most sanctions were lifted . In March , the District Court for the Southern District of New York found , by default , that Iran had provided support to certain terrorist groups and individuals responsible for the September 11 attacks and awarded $ 10.5 billion in damages to the plaintiffs , which consisted of $ 3 billion to reimburse insurance companies for paid claims and $ 7.5 billion for victims and their families ( $ 2 million for pain and suffering and $ 6.88 million in punitive damages per victim ) . The same judge ruled just six months earlier that there was insufficient evidence linking Saudi Arabia — which has sour relations with Iran — to the 9/11 attacks to overcome , under the terrorism exemption , Saudi Arabia 's immunity under the FSIA
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Bank Markazi v. Peterson