Iran rejects US court decision on terror reparations

Iran rejects the US Supreme Court decision Wednesday that cleared the way for families of victims of the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and other attacks linked to Iran to collect nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian funds.

“This is totally rejected. It is theft … it is like stealing Iran’s money and we condemn it,” says Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari, according to Reuters.

The court’s 6-2 ruling directly affects more than 1,300 relatives of victims, some who have been seeking compensation for more than 30 years. They include families of the 241 US service members who died in the Beirut bombing.

Other families who are not covered by Wednesday’s decision also could benefit because they now stand to reap a larger share of a government-administered fund intended for victims of state-sponsored terrorism.

— AP contributed