The United Nations’ top court is set to rule Thursday in a case filed by Iran against the United States over frozen Iranian assets worth some $2 billion that the US Supreme Court awarded to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Tehran.
The court’s judgments are final and legally binding.
At hearings last year, lawyers representing the US urged the International Court of Justice to reject the claim. Iran cast the asset freeze as an attempt to destabilize the Tehran government and a violation of international law.
Iran took its claim to the world court in 2016 after the US Supreme Court ruled that money belonging to Iran’s central bank could be used as compensation for the 241 American troops who died in the 1983 bombing, which was believed to be linked to Tehran.
At stake are $1.75 billion in bonds, plus accumulated interest, belonging to the Iranian state but held in a Citibank account in New York.
After the bombing of a US military base in Lebanon, a second blast nearby killed 58 French soldiers. Iran has denied involvement, but a US District Court judge found Tehran responsible in 2003. The judge’s ruling said Iran’s ambassador to Syria at the time called “a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and instructed him to instigate the Marine barracks bombing.”
