Iran to fight US suit to seize $1.7 billion held by Deutsche Boerse unit

Iran’s central bank said on Saturday it was taking legal steps to counter a lawsuit filed in a US court by creditors seeking to seize $1.7 billion (£1.27 billion) of its assets held by Deutsche Boerse’s Clearstream unit.

The German stock exchange operator said earlier the creditors had filed the suit in a New York court seeking to require Clearstream to surrender assets that allegedly belong to Iran’s central bank. It said the clearing house considers the claims to be unfounded and will take steps to defeat them.

The deputy governor of the Iranian central bank did not give details of the bank’s legal measures to prevent a seizure of the assets, which he said were worth $1.7 billion.