Iran Ordered to Pay $104 Million in Damages to Victims of Khobar Towers Bombing

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Monday, September 10, ordered Iran to pay $104 million in damages to the families of victims of the attack on a U.S. military base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. According to Reuters, Judge Beryl Howell issued this ruling while Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps did not appear in court to defend themselves. Judge Howell stated that 15 military personnel present during the explosion at the eight-story Khobar Towers suffered emotional distress due to the attack. He further emphasized that 24 relatives of those harmed in the incident also experienced emotional trauma. The victims' families sought damages under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act concerning terrorism. Paul Gaston, one of the lawyers for the victims' families, said the plaintiffs are very pleased with the court's ruling and are now looking for ways to collect this compensation. On the evening of June 25, 1996, a tanker truck filled with TNT exploded in the parking lot in front of a building where about 100 U.S. Air Force personnel were residing. In the Khobar Towers bombing, 19 Americans were killed and 372 were injured, and two individuals who parked the tanker truck and drove away in a Chevrolet were later arrested by Saudi police. Following the explosion at the mentioned U.S. base, Saudi Arabia and the United States pointed fingers at Iran, but Tehran officials denied any involvement in the bombing. The FBI's investigation into the Khobar bombing led to an indictment against 13 members of Hezbollah Lebanon on June 21, 2001. A federal court in the U.S. in 2006 ordered Iran to pay $254 million to the families of 17 victims of the bombing, citing Iran's involvement in the incident. The 209-page indictment indicated that the bomb-laden truck used in the Khobar explosion was equipped at a military base in the Bekaa Valley controlled by Hezbollah and the IRGC, and that the attack was authorized by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.