By Xinhua
Tehran : Iran on Saturday lashed out at a recent US court’s decision to fine the Islamic Republic $2.65 billion for the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, terming the verdict “baseless”.
“This is a baseless decision, some US court issued verdict without any investigation or listening to opinions from the other sides,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters here.
“The verdict is not legally defendable, and we can see the political pressure from the decision to grab Iranian assets in America,” he added.
A US federal court ruled Friday that Iran must pay $2.65 billion to the family members of the 241 US servicemen killed in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
According to a previous ruling of the same federal judge in 2003, Iran was held responsible for the 1983 suicide attack.
Hezbollah carried out the suicide attack with the approval and funding of Iran’s government officials, the judge had said.
Hezbollah, or Party of God, is based in Lebanon and has been waging a campaign for years against Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon as a self-declared security zone.
Hezbollah, blamed for anti-western and anti-Israel terrorist acts since 1980s, is on the US State Department’s list of terrorist organisations.