Majlis obliges govt. to seek reparations from U.S.

May 15, 2016 - 21:17

TEHRAN - Iranian Majlis (parliament) ratified a two-starred urgency on Sunday by 181 votes to 6, with 8 abstentions, requiring the Rouhani administration to sue the U.S. for any damage made to Iran and its nationals.

After a short enmity hiatus brought about by the nuclear deal, this is the first tit-for-tat between Tehran and Washington after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Iran must pay $2 billion to families of marines who died in the Beirut 1983 barracks attack, allegedly blamed on Iran.
According to the bill ratified by the Iranian parliament, the government should takes whatsoever steps to sue the U.S. for its role in the 1953 Iranian coup, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup and the Nojeh coup plot.
The 1953 coup overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.
Also, the Nojeh coup plot was an aborted attempt to overthrow the newly established Islamic Republic more than 30 years ago.
The bill also seeks for reparations from the U.S. for the Iran-Iraq war, which left more than 223,000 deaths, as well as the U.S.-backed assassination of more than 17,000 Iranians in terrorist attacks.
The bill also covers all damage by the U.S.-involved espionage as well as the U.S.-backed activities of Israel against Iran and its nationals. 
This is the first legal measure taken by the parliament to look into the U.S. High Court ruling.

Prior to the act, senior Iranian officials had branded the $2 billion seizure of the Central Bank of Iran as “international theft.”
On Saturday, Iran’s prosecutor general Montazeri said he is pressing on with his call on the Foreign Ministry to take diplomatic action on the U.S. for its decision to seize the Central Bank of Iran’s assets in an American bank.
Montazeri had also proposed setting up a juridical task force, made up of top Iranian judges, to take legal action, within the framework of international law, against the U.S. measure.

AK/PA