IRNA – Iranian Bank Mellat in a letter to Securities and Exchange Organization announced that HM Treasury has settled Iran's damage claim over being blacklisted worth $1.6 billion.

The HM Treasury had sanctioned Bank Mellat for the alleged participation in Iran nuclear program in 2009.

This is while, Bank Mellat filed a complaint against HM Treasury for banning its banking activities.

Finally, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in favor of Bank Mellat and announced sanctions as illegal.

The European Union’s top court earlier upheld a contention by Iran’s Bank Mellat that it was improperly sanctioned for six years without sufficient evidence of its involvement in Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the European Court of Justice said there wasn’t enough evidence to back up the European Council’s contention that Bank Mellat was involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs because it was the parent company of another entity called First East Export.

The court also rejected the Council’s contention that it couldn’t provide evidence of Bank Mellat’s involvement because it came from confidential sources whose safety could be compromised if they were identified, the WSJ wrote.

Meanwhile, on February 18, 2016, the Fifth Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rendered a judgment in the matter of Council of the European Union v Bank Mellat (Case C-176/13 P) that could pave the way for Bank Mellat to recover damages based on its designation for sanctions by the EU and the UK authorities, the EU website has reported.