US top court seeks Obama administration views on Iran bank judgmen
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The US Supreme Court on Monday asked President Barack Obama's administration to weigh in on an appeal over whether Iran's central bank must pay $1.75 billion to relatives of American troops killed in the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Lebanon.
The court said it wants the US Justice Department's views on whether the nine justices should hear the appeal filed by Bank Markazi. If the justices ultimately decline to hear Bank Markazi's appeal, the money, currently held in a trust account, would have to be turned over to families of the victims. It would go toward paying off a $2.65 billion US court judgment the families won against Iran in 2007. The families accused Iran of providing material support to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shi'ite militant group responsible for the October 1983 truck bomb attack at the Marine compound in Beirut that killed 241 US servicemen.
