Court in Iran Orders US To Pay $4.3 Billion to Families of Killed Nuclear Scientists

A court in Iran dedicated to the review of Iranian complaints against the United States ordered the US to pay $4.3 billion in compensation to the families of Iranian nuclear scientists assassinated in recent years, The Associated Press reported, citing state media. There are no American assets in Iran for the court to seize on behalf of the families, however, making the ruling largely symbolic. The ruling is somewhat unusual since Iran has been blaming Israel for the targeted killing of its nuclear scientists for the last decade. The court’s ruling noted that the US supported the “Zionist regime,” referring to Israel, in its “organized crime” against the victims, according to the report. The court summoned for testimony 37 former American officials, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Iran envoy Brian Hook and former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. Presumably, they were all no-shows.