A US judge formally ordered Iran, Al-Qaeda and several other defendants Wednesday to pay $6 billion compensation to the victims of September 11, 2001, in a largely symbolic ruling. Although Iran denies any connection to 9/11, it was included in the list of alleged culprits by the US District Court in New York, along with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Afghanistan’s Taliban guerrillas and Al-Qaeda, which took credit for the massive terror attack.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also named. However, the money, awarded for economic, personal and punitive damages for a total of $6,048,513,805, is unlikely to be recovered. Iran is in a tense standoff with the United States over multiple issues, especially its nuclear industry and alleged plan to build an atomic weapon. Iranian-backed Hezbollah has no relations with the United States. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, who is also named, was killed by US Navy SEALs in a raid inside Pakistan in 2011. The Taliban are in an active war with US-led troops across Afghanistan. The ruling caps a series of court decisions prompted by lawsuits filed by families of 47 victims from among the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11.
