View source for Executive Order 12170

{{short description|1979 US presidential order freezing all Iranian government assets in the US}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

'''Executive Order 12170''' was issued by [[United States|American]] president [[Jimmy Carter]] on November 14, 1979, ten days after the [[Iran hostage crisis]] had started. The [[Executive order (United States)|executive order]], empowered under the [[International Emergency Economic Powers Act]], ordered the [[Asset freezing|freezing]] of all Iranian government assets held within the United States.

The release of the US hostages, as well as the unfreezing of Iranian assets and [[Iran–United States Claims Tribunal|establishing arbitration for resolving claims]] on both sides was negotiated in the [[Algiers Accords]]; the accords were signed on the last full day of the Carter administration and assented to by the incoming [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan Administration]].

The order was first declared on 14 November 1979 ([[s:Executive Order 12170|EO 12170]]). At least 11 executive orders were based on this emergency state.<ref name="U-t"/> The emergency, which was renewed in 2023 for the 44th time, is the "oldest existing state of emergency."<ref name="U-t"/> The renewal of the emergency state with respect to Iran was equal to continuation of non-nuclear US sanctions against [[Iran]].

By 2014, this state of emergency was among 30 others which US was dealing with. According to Gregory Korte of ''USA Today'', this state of emergency gives "extra ordinary powers" to the president to "seize property, call up the National Guard and hire and fire military officers at will," since it is declared by executive order. The language of such declarations are "nearly apocalyptic," according to the ''USA Today''. Although bound by law to review the emergence declarations, [[United States Congress|Congress]] provides little "oversight" on them, said Korte.<ref name="wpt">{{cite news|last1=Ingraham|first1=Christopher|title=The United States is in a state of emergency – 30 of them, in fact|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/11/19/the-united-states-is-in-a-state-of-emergency-30-of-them-in-fact/|access-date=25 November 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|archive-date=19 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919182403/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/11/19/the-united-states-is-in-a-state-of-emergency-30-of-them-in-fact/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Renewals==
===2016===
By 2016 (the year the [[Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]] was implemented), some of the executive orders issued pursuant to the declared national emergency were terminated.<ref name="WH">{{cite web|title=Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/09/notice-and-letter-continuation-national-emergency-respect-iran|publisher=[[White House Office of the Press Secretary]]|date=9 March 2016|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=5 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005213855/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/09/notice-and-letter-continuation-national-emergency-respect-iran|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the situation was extended by President [[Barack Obama]] for an additional year, as he believed that US relations with Iran had not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated Jan. 19, 1981, [[Algiers Accords]], had not been fully implanted.<ref name="U-t"/> "Despite the historic deal to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, certain actions and policies of the Government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," wrote Obama in his letter to the Congress.<ref name="WH"/>

Most of the [[U.S. sanctions against Iran]] are legally originated from this state of emergency.<ref name="U-t">{{cite news|last1=Korte|first1=Gregory|title=Obama renews a 35-year Iran emergency for 36th year|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/12/obama-emergency-continuation-iran-nuclear-talks/18915699/|access-date=25 November 2016|work=USA Today|archive-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114130854/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/12/obama-emergency-continuation-iran-nuclear-talks/18915699/|url-status=live}}</ref> This renewal meant that "non-nuclear US sanctions against Iran will remain in effect for at least another year."<ref name="IRIB">{{cite news|title=Obama extends 'National Emergency' against Iran|url=http://english.irib.ir/news/iran1/item/223707|access-date=25 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722232052/http://english.irib.ir/news/iran1/item/223707|archive-date=22 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===2017===
On November 6, 2017, President [[Donald Trump]] extended the national emergency for another year and wrote a letter to Congress.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Office of the Press Secretary|author-link=White House Office of the Press Secretary|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/06/text-letter-president-congress-united-states|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106213008/https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/06/text-letter-president-congress-united-states|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 6, 2017|title=Presidential Memorandum on A Message to the Congress of the United States on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran|work=[[White House]]|publisher=White House|location=Washington, DC|language=en|date=November 6, 2017|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Office of the Press Secretary|author-link=White House Office of the Press Secretary|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/06/notice-regarding-continuation-national-emergency-respect-iran|title=Presidential Notice Regarding the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran|location=Washington, DC|language=en|date=November 6, 2017|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|access-date=November 7, 2017|archive-date=March 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314160907/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/notice-regarding-continuation-national-emergency-respect-iran/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Wikisource}}
* ''[[Dames & Moore v. Regan]]''
* [[List of national emergencies in the United States]]
* [[Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12170.html Executive Order 12170--Blocking Iranian Government property], ''[[US Federal Register]]'', November 17, 1979
* [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/09/letter-continuation-national-emergency-respect-iran Letter – Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran]

{{Presidency of Jimmy Carter}}
{{Iran–United States relations}}

[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:Executive orders of Jimmy Carter]]
[[Category:Iran–United States relations]]
[[Category:1979 in international relations]]
[[Category:1979 in American law]]
[[Category:Sanctions against Iran]]
[[Category:Emergency laws in the United States]]
[[Category:United States sanctions]]