Iran court rules US must pay $420mn in damages over 1980 Tabas terror attack
An Iranian court has ruled that the United States must pay $420 million in damages to survivors of a terrorist attack by the US military in Iran’s central Tabas Desert back in 1980.
The Tehran Legal Court of International Relations issued the verdict on Thursday, saying Washington has been sentenced for the crimes committed during the invasion of Tabas in the failed "Operation Eagle Claw," which led to the massacre of civilians.
In their terrorist operation, US forces attacked ordinary bus passengers and drivers passing by for no reason.
The latest court decision came after 13 survivors of the terror attack as well as one of the hostages taken by the US forces in the Desert filed a lawsuit against the US government.
The court ruled that the US government must pay $140 million for the “material and moral” damage it caused the plaintiffs and $280 million in “punitive damages.”
Therefore, the US government has to pay a total of $420 million in compensation to the survivors, the verdict concluded.
On April 25, 1980, the United States launched the covert military operation in an attempt to airlift the US embassy staff held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
However, a sandstorm hit and brought down the group of US military aircraft in the Tabas Desert, killing eight American servicemen and resulting in the failure of the mission. Inspections showed a helicopter crashed into a C-130 Hercules transport plane as five other choppers were stranded in the storm.
The units involved in the operation were from the US Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
The Tabas incident occurred during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, and many believe it played a major role in Carter’s defeat in the 1980 presidential election.
Iran commemorates the event every year as a symbol of the failure of US plots against the Islamic Republic.
During the takeover of the embassy, documents were discovered that proved some of the American embassy staff had been working with US intelligence agencies. Some 52 Americans were held in Tehran for 444 days, but later released unharmed.
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