Iran court orders US to pay billions in damages to 2017 Tehran terror attack victims

A court in Tehran has ruled that the United States must pay millions of dollars in damages to the families of the victims of two simultaneous terrorist attacks on Iran’s Parliament and the mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in 2017.  

The judiciary’s international affairs and human rights department announced the court’s verdict in a report on Wednesday.

The decision was made after families of the victims of the two attacks filed complaints against Washington at branch 55 of the Tehran Court of Justice.

After holding several hearings in the case, the court ruled that the US government as well as some American officials and institutions must pay $312,950,000 in damages to the families of the victims.

The ruling, according to the judiciary’s report, was aimed at preventing further US violations of international law, including its support for the Daesh terrorist group in committing terrorist attacks that lead to the killing of innocent people as well as material, moral and financial damages to their families.

It also set $9,950,000 for material damages, $104 million for moral damages caused to the plaintiffs, and $199 million for punitive damages.

The defendants in the case are 9 American legal entities, including the US government, former US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, former US general Tommy Franks, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the US Treasury Department, Lockheed Martin Corp. and American Airlines Group Inc.

The court said the reasons behind attributing the crimes to Washington is the statements of high-ranking US officials about the main role of that government in organizing and directing terrorist groups, reliable news and information published in US media, as well as US official’s speeches and books about the role of the CIA in creating terrorist groups, including Daesh.

On June 7, 2017, Iran’s Parliament and the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum in the capital Tehran came under terrorist attacks.

The attack on the parliament happened when at least four gunmen, disguised as women, entered the visitors’ hall of the building, opening fire on the security guards there. According to an Interior Ministry statement, the terrorists were all killed before they could make it to the administrative building of the parliament.

Separately, gunmen attacked the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum in Tehran, opening fire on people inside and wounding a number of them.

At least 17 people were killed in the attacks and nearly 50 were injured in the attacks, which were later claimed by the Daesh.

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