## Facts

- U.S. corporate claimants contracted in 1974 with an Iranian military procurement office (later Iran’s Army Joint Staff) to supply and install switching equipment and related services for automatic telegraphic services in Iran.
- The contract required insurance coverage from an Iranian insurer; the claimants procured a policy from Iran Insurance Company.
- The claimants asserted that political events triggered force majeure in late 1978 and that they cancelled the contract in March 1979 pursuant to the force-majeure provisions.
- Iranian state respondents denied a force-majeure cancellation right and contended the claimants breached by nonperformance.
- The claimants alleged Iran Insurance was nationalized in June 1979, making its rights and obligations attributable to the Iranian State.
- In July 1982, Iran Insurance sued in the Public Court of Tehran seeking unpaid premiums under the insurance policy and related addenda and summoned a claimant entity to appear.
- While the contract dispute was pending before the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal, the claimants sought an interim directive requiring Iran to discontinue or stay the Tehran action and any similar Iranian court proceedings arising from the same transaction.
- Iran opposed, arguing the Tribunal lacked power to interfere with Iranian court proceedings and citing an exclusive Iranian-courts jurisdiction clause in the contract.

## Issues

1. Whether the Tribunal had jurisdiction over disputes arising from the contract and related insurance claims despite a contractual clause assigning disputes exclusively to Iranian courts.
2. Whether claims by a nationalized insurer were attributable to the Iranian State for purposes of the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.
3. Whether the Tribunal could order interim protective measures requiring Iran to cause parallel Iranian court proceedings to be stayed or discontinued to protect the Tribunal process.

## Decision

- The Tribunal held it had jurisdiction under the Algiers Accords over claims arising from the contract between U.S. nationals and Iranian state entities, including related claims connected to the nationalized insurer.
- The Tribunal rejected the argument that a private contractual forum-selection clause could displace jurisdiction conferred by the Accords.
- The Tribunal determined it had authority to issue interim measures directed to the Government of Iran to prevent pursuit of domestic proceedings involving the same subject matter and parties in substance.
- The Tribunal ordered Iran to cause the Tehran action brought by Iran Insurance against the claimants to be discontinued or, at minimum, stayed, and to ensure that no other Iranian proceedings would be pursued concerning the same claim pending before the Tribunal.
- The Tribunal emphasized the interim nature of the award and did not decide the merits of force majeure, breach, or damages.

## Legal Principles

- Treaty-based jurisdiction conferred on an international claims tribunal is not nullified by a contractual clause assigning exclusive jurisdiction to domestic courts.
- For jurisdictional purposes, claims and liabilities of a nationalized entity may be treated as attributable to the State when the dispute is effectively between a foreign national and the State.
- An international tribunal may possess implied authority to order interim protective measures necessary to preserve its jurisdiction and prevent parallel proceedings from impairing the effectiveness of its adjudication.
- Interim measures may be framed as obligations on the respondent State to act (or refrain from acting) with respect to domestic litigation, without purporting to bind the domestic court as a tribunal.

## Conclusion

The Tribunal confirmed that its treaty-based mandate controlled over an Iranian-court exclusivity clause, treated the nationalized insurer’s claims as attributable to Iran for jurisdictional purposes, and granted interim relief requiring Iran to halt or suspend parallel Tehran litigation to protect the Tribunal’s proceedings pending a later merits determination.


RCA Globcom Commc’ns, Inc. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Interim Award No. ITM 29-160-1 (Iran-U.S. Cl. Trib. 1983)