Iran Orders United States to Pay $1 Billion for Alleged Terror Strikes

Iran Accuses US of Colluding with Islamic State in Terror Attacks

An Iranian court has ordered the US government to pay over $1 billion in fines for alleged terror strikes that Tehran claims were ordered by the US.

The court has ordered “the US government, as well as some American officials and institutions, to pay $312,950,000 in damages” to the families of those killed in a 2017 terror strike on Iran’s parliament and a popular holy site. The court has also set $9,950,000 for material damages, $104 million for moral damages caused to the plaintiffs, and $199 million for punitive damages, according to Iran’s state-controlled press.

Iran is blaming the US for a series of attacks that were carried out by the Islamic State, a rival terror organization that is at odds with Iran’s clerical regime. Iranian officials claim that the American government is colluding with the Islamic State and is primarily responsible for the 2017 attack that killed 17 and wounded 50 others.

The judgment is likely a response to the US government’s 2021 seizure of around $7 million in Iranian assets, which were paid out to the victims of Tehran’s terrorism enterprise. The United States also successfully petitioned the International Court of Justice in March to dismiss a case that would have barred further payments from Iranian coffers.

Iran’s countersuit names former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, former US general Tommy Franks, the CIA, US Central Command, and the Treasury Department as defendants. Lockheed Martin and American Airlines are also named in the suit.