Iran Votes to File a Complaint with the International Court of Justice Against the U.S. Over a Supreme Court Ruling That Approved Confiscation of Iranian Assets

Iran seeks money from U.S. over 1953 coup that empowered American-backed shah

May 17, 2016

USA TODAY - The Iranian parliament wants the U.S. to compensate the country for damages from a series of events dating to the 1953 coup that increased the power of the pro-American shah.

The parliament on Tuesday passed a bill requiring its government to demand compensation from the United States for "spiritual and material" damages.

Also Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council voted to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice against the U.S. over last month's Supreme Court ruling that approved confiscation of Iranian assets.

The cases reflect Iran's frustration with the pace of integration into the global trade and banking community since some international sanctions were lifted in January. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, last month accused the United States of creating "Iranophobia" to slow economic progress.

The compensation bill does not determine a monetary amount for the damages, the Islamic Republic News Agency reports. The CIA has acknowledged directing the 1953 coup, which drove out Iran's democratically elected prime minister during a bitter dispute over control of oil. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi remained in power until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, months before the start of the iconic hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The parliament is also seeking compensation for, among other things, 17,000 victims of assassination, the "martyrdom" of 223,600 soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and more recently for damages for "blocking, confiscating or seizing of assets belonging to Iranian government, organizations or public and state-owned organizations and officials of Iran."

A series of international boycotts have battered the Iranian economy. Last year, Iran reached an agreement with the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany to limit its nuclear program to peaceful activities in return for lifting crippling international sanctions.

The deal did not end U.S. sanctions on other Iranian activities, however, such as its support for terrorism, developing ballistic missiles and human rights violations. And last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that families of victims of a 1983 terrorists strike in Lebanon linked to Iran can collect reparations from $2 billion in Iranian assets frozen in U.S. banks.

That ruling is the basis for Iran's complaint to the International Court of Justice. Iranian Justice Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said bringing a complaint against the U.S. at The Hague was just one way Iran will pursue the case. He said unexplained "overt and covert political" efforts also would be pursued, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported.