Short Sale of Bonds, Seller Cannot Deliver

Dear Forum,

I need some advice on a security transaction:
On January 30th I bought some SNS bonds, settlement date was February 4th.
On February first, the government of Netherlands declared the expropriation of these bonds.
My position is that the seller cannot deliver on the settlement date, since he no longer own the bonds, resulting in a transaction "short fail", and that the transaction should be canceled.
The trader is claiming that the expropriation is on the “rights” attached the securities, and therefore he can still deliver worthless paper.
So I suppose it all comes up to the interpretation of the term “expropriation”
I would like to get opinions on this matter

BR
E.Kid

If you're not in the U.S., you will need to consult a lawyer in the nation where this occurred.

Yep, SNS bonds are currently completely worthless. You need to take the sales contract to a legal professional in your country and see if there is any way to rescind it.