Iran court orders US to pay $330 m for ‘planning coup’

AFP | Tehran

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A court in Tehran has ordered the US government to pay $330 million in damages for “planning a coup” against the newly established Islamic republic in 1980, the judiciary said yesterday.

A year after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the USbacked shah, a group of mostly army officers tried to overthrow the new government.

State news agency IRNA said the “insurgents” were led by Saeed Mahdiyoun, a former Iranian air force commander, and had their headquarters in Nojeh, an air base in the western Hamedan province.

Several people were killed in clashes between the coup plotters and government forces, and scores of others were arrested.

“Their objective was to seize control of military bases across the country and target strategic centres and residences of the revolution’s leaders. 

However, their efforts were thwarted,” IRNA said. Last year, relatives of those killed in the coup filed a legal petition with Iran’s International Court demanding damages, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.

They specifically accused the United States of “planning and executing” the coup, Mizan said.

The court ruled in their favour, ordering “the American government to pay the plaintiffs 30 million dollars in material and moral damages, and 300 million dollars in punitive damages,” it added.