Iranian court orders the US to pay $313m for terror attacks

An Iranian Court has ruled that the United States must pay $312.9 million in damages and compensation to the families of the victims of Daesh attacks in Iran almost six years ago.

On 7 June, 2017, twin attacks targeted Iran’s Parliament building in central Tehran and the mausoleum of former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, in the capital’s south, with  teams of armed militants using gunfire and explosives to target the sites. The attacks killed 17 and injured 50 others, and the terror group Daesh claimed responsibility.

In a statement yesterday, the Iranian judiciary’s international affairs and human rights department announced the ruling which named nine American officials and institutions that must pay compensations to the families of the victims, including the US government, former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, US Central Command (CENTCOM), former CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Lockheed Martin and American Airlines Group.

According to the ruling, the US is to blame for the “fundamental role” it played in “organising and guiding terrorist groups”, along with the influence of American media, US officials’ books and speeches and the CIA’s involvement in “creating terrorist groups”.

The verdict ruled that Washington must pay $9.95 million in financial damages and $104 million and $199 million respectively for moral and punitive damages, amounting to a total of $312.9 million to the victims’ families.

Although the statement insisted that the ruling was made in response to complaints filed by three of the victims’ families, it also came in response to the US’s seizure of Iranian assets and several orders issued by American courts that also blamed Iran for terrorist attacks.

READ: Iranian official says US is the ‘godfather’ of Daesh terror group