Iranian Damages

Hmm, not sure quite how much this is going to mean:

Iran must pay $2.65 billion (£130.10 million) to the
family members of the 241 US servicemen killed in the 1983 bombing of
the US Marine barracks in Beirut, an American judge has ruled, calling
it the largest-ever such judgment against another country.

Iran has been blamed for supporting the
militant group Hezbollah, which carried out the suicide bombing in
Beirut. It was the worst terrorist act against American targets until
the attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

The ruling allows nearly 1,000 family members and estates to try to
collect Iranian assets from various sources around the world.

Iran has denied responsibility for the attack. The nation did not
respond to the six-year-old lawsuit and was represented only by an
empty table.

So what they’ve got to do is identify and then sue to confiscate, Iranian government owned assets. Given that the Iranians were not represented I’m not sure how much weight other legal systems will put on the ruling. So they’re pretty much limited to those already in US jurisdiction. Which I would suggest is really not very much at all. Maybe the odd jetliner of the national carrier but anything else?

In

3 responses

  1. “$2.65 billion (£130.10 million)”
    With that sort of exchange rate it really is time to make that shopping trip to NYC.

  2. Probably not – an ipod that costs $199 would be £1000.

  3. It’s those pesky decimal points, isn’t it?
    If £130,100,000 buys me $2,650,000,000 then £1 buys me about $20.37. That’s a great exchange rate. That $199 iPod will cost me a tenner.

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