A court last year linked Iran to the 9-11 attacks, although the US government has not done so. Since Iran refuses to go into US courts to contest suits against it, little argument is made in its defense in such cases.
The main evidence against Iran was the fact that it allowed many Al-Qaeda members to cross Iran clandestinely, including some of the 9-11 skyjackers. There is little doubt that Iran has provided some help to Al-Qaeda over the years, though it is an open question whether Iran knew of Al-Qaeda’s plans for attacking the United States.
The decision last year left open the amount of damages. The judge’s decision this month settled that but did not say how much of the judgment should be paid by Iran and how much by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. But assuming Iran would be expected to pay most of it as the sole state implicated, that would take the total judgments assessed over the years against Iran for terrorist activities to something like $20 billion.
The judgments are really symbolic since it has proven impossible to collect on these judgments. They also give the Islamic Republic yet another reason not to regularize relations with the United States and open the door to collections.
The suit was filed by 110 survivors of 59 of the 3,000 victims of the 9-11 attacks. The success may encourage other relatives to file further suits against Iran.
Judge Frank Maas of the US District Court in Manhattan assessed $1,362,277,884 in compensatory damages and $4,686,235,921 in punitive damages. In addition, he ordered interest of 4.96 percent paid on part of the award, adding about 760 million more and bringing the total to $6.8 billion.