Sabri visits Tehran over outstanding war issues

Al Bawaba reported the first group in a planned return of 728 Iraqi prisoners. Contemporary claims that this was the final dispatch did not settle all later captivity questions.

The United States submitted its Rejoinder in the continuing litigation.

An order allowed Iran a further written pleading relating to the U.S. counterclaim.

Iran filed an additional response to the counterclaim after the Court authorized another pleading.

The ICRC completed a handover that included 507 Iraqis held since the 1980–88 war and 188 held since the 1991 Gulf War. The groups had different origins.

Iran received the remains of 570 soldiers and returned 1,166 Iraqi remains in a border exchange. Recovery did not mean every returned person had been identified.

A Tehran funeral honored 570 Iranians whose remains had been returned from Iraq. RFE/RL’s Persian service reported public debate over how the men had died.

Public hearings opened on Iran’s claim and the U.S. counterclaim, bringing wartime maritime disputes before the Court.

The hearings ended and the Court moved to deliberation on the claim and counterclaim.

ICRC archive documentation identifies a repatriation operation on 17–18 March. Some Iraqi prisoners remained for a separate return in May, so the March operation was not comprehensive.