An Iranian court has ordered the United States government to pay $420 million in compensation to victims of a failed 1980 operation to free hostages held in the US Embassy in Tehran.
The hostage crisis began shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the Western-backed shah, when Iranian students stormed the embassy in Tehran and took more than fifty Americans hostage for 444 days. The students were demanding the extradition of the deposed shah, who was receiving medical treatment in the United States.
In April of 1980, the US attempted to free the hostages in a highly secretive operation known as Operation Eagle Claw. The mission ended in disaster due to sandstorms and mechanical failures, and while the rescue force was withdrawing, two US aircraft collided, resulting in the deaths of eight servicemen.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency reported that during the operation, US forces had also attacked a bus carrying Iranian passengers, although it did not provide any further details. Following this, the court ordered the US government to pay $420 million in compensation to the victims of the failed mission.
In addition, Iranian media reported that a local commander of the Revolutionary Guards was accidentally shot and killed by Iranian forces while standing guard over the US military equipment abandoned during the operation.
As a response to the hostage crisis, the US severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and imposed an embargo. The hostages were eventually released in January of 1981.
Since then, Iranian courts have regularly ordered the US government to pay compensation to victims of US operations. In August 2020, a Tehran court ordered the US government to pay $330 million in damages for allegedly planning a coup against the fledgling Islamic republic in 1980.
Furthermore, US courts have also issued several multibillion-dollar compensation awards against Tehran. In 2016, the US Supreme Court ordered that Iranian assets frozen in the United States should be paid to victims of attacks which Washington blamed on Tehran, including the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut and a 1996 blast in Saudi Arabia.
This March, the International Court of Justice ruled that Washington’s freezing of funds belonging to several Iranian individuals and companies was “manifestly unreasonable,” but it had no jurisdiction to unblock nearly $2 billion in Iranian central bank assets frozen by the US.
Iran has denied all responsibility for the attacks blamed on it by Washington and has argued that US court judgments have awarded victims a total of $56 billion in damages.
This latest court-ordered compensation of $420 million is yet another example of the Iranian courts holding the US government accountable for its actions. The ruling is a reminder of the need for accountability and justice, not only for the victims of the hostage crisis but also for all those affected by US military operations, both inside and outside of Iran.
