Iran demands money from the UK for tanks ordered by the shah
According to the British newspaper The Independent, the Iranian government got to the High Court of London in an attempt to recover from the British Ministry of Defense International Military Services (IMS) company more than £ 390 million for Tanksordered by Iran under the Shah under a 1974 contract.
The company International Military Services (IMS) was created under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain in 1970 as a state intermediary for the integrated supply of British weapons for export. Although the company nominally worked with many countries, the actual IMS specialization was military-technical cooperation with Shah Iran, which in 1977 accounted for 95% of the entire IMS order portfolio. The “diamond” in the IMS portfolio of Iranian orders was the contract concluded by the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi in December 1974 for a contract worth 650 million pounds for the development of Iranian-specific requirements and the delivery of 1750 units of heavy armored vehicles to Iran - 1500 main tanks (including 150 modified FV4030 / 1 tanks Chieftain, 125 tanks FV4030 / 2 Shir 1 and 1225 tanks of the third generation FV4030 / 3 Shir 2) and 250 armored repair and recovery vehicles FV4204 (based on the chassis FV4030 / 2/3). The direct production of armored vehicles under this contract was carried out by the Royal weapons Royal Ordnance Factory in Leeds with Vickers. In 1976-1978, Iran managed to get 187 tanks under this contract, of which 185 were FV4030 / 1 Chieftain (including 35 additional) and two prototypes Shir 1. At the same time, Iran paid the full amount under the contract.
The Khalid Jordanian tank (originally designed for Iranian FV4030 / 2 Shir 1) is the main exhibit of the British Armored Museum in Bovington. Snapshot of 2006 of the year (s) arcaneafvs.com
6 February The new revolutionary government of Iran 1979 officially canceled this contract. By this time, all 125 serial Shir 1 tanks were completed in Leeds and preparations were made for the start of the construction of Shir 1979 tanks from March 2). Subsequently, all 125 made tanks Shir Men's 1 and 20 ARV FV4204 based on them have been contracted 1979 years resold Jordan (with 149 additionally made tanks of this type get into Jordan, the name of Khalid), and the tank Shir Men's 2 served as a prototype for the tank FV4030 / 4 Challenger 1 for the British Army.
Iran from 1979 of the year continuously demanded more than 390 million pounds from the IMS (and in fact from the British government) for the unrealized part of the terminated 1974 contract of the year, but the British side refused to return these funds, citing national and international sanctions against Iran. IMS itself after the Iranian revolution, led a rather miserable existence, and in February 2010 of the year finally ceased actual activity. Iran has periodically achieved success on the issue of collecting 390 million pounds in international and national courts of various countries, and in 2009, the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva decided in favor of the Iranian party in this dispute. After that, in 2010-2011, a preliminary agreement was reached between IMS (actually by the British Ministry of Defense) and the Iranian government that IMS transfer the required amount to a special Iranian account, which, however, will be frozen until the end of the EU sanctions against Iran, but this agreement was not implemented for unclear reasons (the parties are blaming each other). The Iranian side resumed the demands for funds. The secret talks held in Istanbul at the beginning of 2013 on this issue also failed.
In 2013, the Iranian government filed a lawsuit against IMS directly in the High Court of London. Although the beginning of the proceedings here has been repeatedly postponed for various reasons, but now it has come to the beginning of the trial. Hearings are expected to start in the summer of 2014 The British Ministry of Defense, while not denying the readiness to return the ill-fated 390 million pounds, still hopes to settle the matter out of court, hoping that the problem can be solved without transferring these funds to Tehran, but placing them all on the same frozen account. However, this does not suit Iran, which hopes, having achieved a profitable verdict from the Supreme Court of London, to gain real access to these funds, thus bypassing the sanctions of the EU and the British government.
Information