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Iranian Parliament Compels Government to Request Washington for Compensation over Sanctions’ Losses | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Iranian Parliament during a session held in Tehran in March, AFP


Iranian Parliament Compels Government to Request Washington for Compensation over Sanctions’ Losses

by | May 16, 2016 | World |

Iranian Parliament Compels Government to Request Washington for Compensation over Sanctions’ Losses

London-The Iranian parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill requiring the government to sue the U.S. for the damage the country suffered as a result of the U.S.’ hostile moves over the past 63 years.

Of 290 lawmakers attending Wednesday’s session of parliament, 181, making 70 percent of the members, voted in favor of the bill.

The bill calls on the government to take legal action against the U.S. government in an international court.

Iran is also preparing international legal action to recover nearly $2 billion that the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered to be paid as compensation to American victims of terror attacks in a 1983 bombing in Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday.

“We will soon take the case of the $2 billion to the international court,” Rouhani said.

Iran has denied any role in the attack, and the money confiscated under the U.S. court ruling belongs to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI); however, the assets have been blocked under U.S. sanctions.

For his part, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the move “is a theft, huge theft. It is highway robbery, and believe me, we will get it back.”

The lawmakers called for urgent deliberations on the bill that would necessitate Iran’s government to seek damage from Washington in compensation for its hostile acts against it.

The cases include the U.S. involvement in the 1953 coup against the government of then democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.

The bill also requires the government to seek compensation from the U.S. for the moral and material damage the country suffered as the United States supported Iraq’s Saddam Hussain during his invasion of Iran in the 1980s, claiming the lives of 223,000 Iranian soldiers.

Under the proposed bill, Washington should also pay for damage it inflicted on Iran by dipping into Iran’s assets frozen in the U.S. banks.

Tehran would be also obliged to claim compensation from the U.S. for supporting or contributing to the Israeli regime’s anti-Iran measures.

The bill further requires the government to take legal action against Washington if it fails to deliver its promises to Iran.