U.S. Supreme Court to Decide on Seizure of Ancient Iranian Artifacts

On Tuesday, July 6, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide on a request from the families of victims of a 1997 bombing in Jerusalem for the enforcement of a $71 million court ruling in Chicago against Iran. According to Reuters, if the Supreme Court agrees with the plaintiffs' request, a collection of ancient Iranian artifacts housed in two Chicago museums will be seized in their favor. The justices are set to review the plaintiffs' appeal against the ruling of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in favor of Iran. The old lawsuit filed in Chicago pertains to an attack in Jerusalem in 1997, during which three members of Hamas carried out a suicide operation that killed five people. Eight Americans were also injured in this incident. These individuals, along with their relatives, sued Iran in an American court due to its alleged role in the attack and managed to obtain a judgment for compensation from Iran amounting to $71.5 million. To achieve their compensation, the plaintiffs have targeted three collections of ancient Iranian artifacts, including prehistoric pottery, jewelry, and ancient inscriptions in Elamite script, which are held by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The two museums claim that these artifacts belong to them, but the plaintiffs argue that Iran is the rightful owner. A Chicago court had rejected the plaintiffs' request in April 2014 to transfer these artifacts and sell them to cover the compensation amount. Most of these inscriptions have been on loan to the Oriental Institute of Chicago since the 1930s under a long-term agreement signed with the then Iranian government. Judge Robert Gettleman, presiding over the case in Chicago, noted that these artifacts were loaned by Iran for academic and research purposes and since they were not loaned for commercial purposes, they cannot be seized. Iran has repeatedly requested the return of these artifacts in the past. Over the years, the University of Chicago has gradually returned more than 30,000 ancient items to Iran. Matt Stalper, who oversees these artifacts in Chicago, told the Associated Press that once the registration of the remaining items is completed, all of them will be returned to Iran. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear the arguments of both sides in its new term starting in October. The ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to affect the outcome of a similar case brought by four different groups representing plaintiffs injured in other attacks supported by Iran. These plaintiffs are seeking enforcement of ordinary court rulings that have accepted to pay them $17.6 million from the assets of the National Bank of Iran. In a similar case decided last year, the Supreme Court ruled to seize $2 billion of Iranian assets to be paid to the families of Americans killed in the 1983 Beirut bombing by Hezbollah and other attacks that Iran is accused of supporting. In this context, a ruling was made to pay 'two billion dollars' in compensation from Iranian assets in America. The seized Iranian assets were used to 'purchase U.S. bonds.' Iran officially sued the U.S. for the seizure of $2 billion of its assets. U.S. courts have issued judgments against Iran totaling '56 billion dollars.' Rouhani called for dealing with 'the negligence in removing Iranian assets from U.S. access.' Jason Rezaian and his family sued the Iranian government in a U.S. federal court. Iran reported registering a complaint against the U.S. for the seizure of $2 billion of its assets.