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UK Supreme Court Deems Bank Mellat Sanctions Case an Issue of ‘Public Importance’

By Colby Adams

An Iranian bank's legal challenge to British and EU sanctions is an issue of "public importance" meriting the consideration of additional justices, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court was scheduled to hear oral arguments Wednesday in Bank Mellat's appeal against the 2009 sanctions, which prohibited U.K. financial institutions from processing transactions or maintaining business relationships with the bank. The EU blacklisted Mellat, Iran's largest private bank, in May 2011. But on reviewing the documents in the run-up to next week's hearing, the court panel decided that "there were more significant points of law and public importance at stake...

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