Iran threatens to appeal U.S. Supreme Court ruling at The Hague

Special to WorldTribune.com

Iran has denounced as theft a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that awarded nearly $2 billion to the victims of terror attacks blamed on Teheran.

On April 26, Iran summoned the Swiss ambassador who handles U.S. interests in Teheran. A day earlier, Iran threatened to take the United States to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to prevent the distribution of the money.

 Rescuers search through the rubble of the U.S. Marine barracks Oct. 23, 1983, in Beirut after a suicide truck bombing. / Jim Bourdier / AP
Rescuers search through the rubble of the U.S. Marine barracks Oct. 23, 1983, in Beirut after a suicide truck bombing. / Jim Bourdier / AP

“Iran’s strong objection over the ruling was conveyed during the meeting between Iranian official and the Swiss envoy. Iranian official underlined that the ruling was against international laws and bilateral agreements,” the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The U.S. Supreme Court found that Congress had not usurped the authority of the courts by passing a law in 2012 stating that the frozen funds should go toward satisfying a $2.65 billion judgment against Iran won by the families in a U.S. federal court in 2007.

The ruling would affect, among others, the families of 241 U.S. soldiers killed in truck bomb attacks on a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in October 1983.

The Swiss embassy represents U.S. interests in Iran as Washington has not had a mission there since hardline Iranian students seized the American embassy shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

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