U.S. Court Rules Against Seizure of Iranian Internet Domains

A federal court in Washington has rejected the possibility of seizing Iranian internet domains. Ars Technica reported on Friday, November 23, that an American court has ruled that the internet domains of a country cannot be considered part of that country's assets and therefore cannot be seized. The official ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) website also confirmed this news. The American court referenced a ruling by a Virginia Supreme Court in 2000 that rejected the possibility of seizing an internet domain as an asset of the accused in favor of the plaintiff. With the ruling of Judge Royce Lambert, the internet domains of North Korea, Syria, and Iran (.KP, .SY, .IR) have been freed from the threat of seizure to pay compensation determined in a terrorism case. Previously, the internet company ICANN, which manages the allocation of country domains, had stated that seizing the domains of these countries is not possible. John Jeffrey, the Secretary-General of ICANN, stated, "We are pleased that the court confirmed our view that domains are not assets. This ruling shows that there is a correct technical understanding of the domain registration system." The terrorism case in question relates to a suicide bombing incident in Jerusalem in 1997, in which four Americans were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the explosion. Given Iran's support for Hamas, the plaintiffs also filed a lawsuit against the Iranian government. The connection of North Korea and Syria to this case has not been clarified. Since Iran did not defend itself during the proceedings, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2003 and demanded $109 million in compensation from Tehran. However, the plaintiffs' problem over the past decade has been their inability to seize Iranian government assets on U.S. soil. The only asset seized in favor of the plaintiffs was a residential property in Lubbock, Texas, valued at $400,000, which previously belonged to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Besides this case, no other Iranian government assets have been identified in the U.S. The plaintiffs even attempted to seize cultural objects displayed in museums at Harvard and Chicago universities, but they were unsuccessful. Given the court's ruling on the impossibility of seizing Iranian domains, there are practically no other cases for seizure on U.S. soil, and naturally, the case will likely be closed in the near future.