The Spiral of American Hostages for Compensation

The 444 days of American diplomats being held hostage continues to make headlines and influence Washington's policymaking even more than 36 years later. The U.S. government budget was approved by Congress on Friday, December 18, but it took a week for international news agencies to come across the topic of hostage-taking and Iran's name among the hundreds of pages of this law. In the budget law for the upcoming year, a provision titled 'Compensation for American Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism' has been included. A part of the 2016 U.S. budget law specifically addresses the case of American hostages in Tehran and their families. This law stipulates that each hostage, some of whom are no longer alive, will receive a maximum of $10,000 for each day they were held in Iran, which could bring their total compensation to about $4.5 million. The spouses or children of hostages who are no longer alive are also set to receive up to $600,000. The amounts are to be funded from penalties paid by a French bank to the U.S. The French bank BNP was fined $9 billion for circumventing sanctions related to Iran, Sudan, and Cuba, and according to the New York Times, part of this money is immediately available for payment to the hostages or their families. Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, commented on the situation, stating that 'although some hostages have passed away,' he is satisfied with this law as it will ultimately bring closure to all those who suffered under the Iranian government. The introduction of the Algiers Accord, which led to the release of American hostages, had previously prohibited compensation payments, but now compensation will be given to these individuals from a source that is only indirectly related to Iran. According to the provision 'Compensation for American Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism' in the U.S. budget law, other victims of terrorism, including those from the September 11 attacks, are also set to receive compensation, and a fund is to be established for all these payments. Although initially funded by the penalties paid by BNP, this fund could, under certain conditions, increase its reserves for compensating victims of hostage-taking, hijacking, bombing, and similar incidents. One of the contentious cases mentioned for adding resources to the fund, which has now become problematic for Iran, is the Peterson case against the Central Bank of Iran. Deborah Peterson, the sister of one of the victims of the 1983 bombing in Beirut, along with other victims' families, sought compensation from Iranian assets when they learned of their existence in Citibank, New York. Some American lawmakers have supported this issue alongside Peterson and others. In the latest action, following a letter from Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the legal advisory group of the House and 225 members filed a petition with the Supreme Court. The petition references the background of this case, which was opened in 2010, and two years later, under Barack Obama's order, all assets of the Central Bank of Iran, including about $2 billion in Citibank, were frozen. Subsequently, Congress passed a law allowing the use of the Central Bank's assets in terrorism-related cases. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Iran's arguments during the appeal next month. The Central Bank of Iran claims that Congress's intervention in this judicial case has undermined the court's independence. However, the 225 members of the House of Representatives emphasized in their petition, submitted before the Christmas holidays, that the law has allowed representatives to take such action. If the Supreme Court's final ruling is not in favor of the Central Bank, then about $2 billion of this bank's assets could also be added to the 'Compensation Fund for American Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism.' This issue has already drawn a reaction from the Iranian government, with Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, stating that 'if the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its institutions and citizens are seized, the U.S. government will bear the responsibility for compensation and damages.' The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has made general statements on this matter and is awaiting the Supreme Court's opinion after the session on January 16 of next year. However, the Deputy Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly has reacted strongly, considering this issue to be concluded. Mansour Haqiqatpour, a representative from Ardabil, stated that 'the Congress's resolutions are mistaken, reflecting the anger and defeat of the opposing side.'