Loved ones of 9/11 victims won a multibillion-dollar judgement against Iran for allegedly aiding in the 2001 terror attacks, court papers revealed.
Manhattan federal judge George Daniels signed off on a pro forma default order Monday against “the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran” after they failed to respond to the suit over the infamous hijackings.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of relatives of some 1,008 victims, set Iranian payouts of $12.5 million per spouse of each victim, $8.5 million per parent, $8.5 million per child and $4.25 million per sibling.
The judgment is widely considered a hollow victory, since Iran will unlikely ever pay out.
The 9/11 Commission found no direct ties between the al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the attacks and Iranian support.
While this judgment won’t directly lead to any payouts, it’s expected to play some role in civil suits now pending against Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens.
This lawsuit against Iran was originally filed in 2004 and allowed to go forward in 2016 when Congress passed legislation allowing for victims of terrorism to file lawsuits against nations that support terror.
“In December 2011, a New York federal court held a hearing and found that the evidence presented established that Iran’s provision of material support to al-Qaeda was a cause of the 9/11 attacks and the resulting damage, injuries, and deaths,” plaintiff’s lawyer Robert Haefele told ABC News.
“It is difficult for those injured or left behind to ignore the findings of the federal court about Iran’s culpability,” Haefele continued. “But those findings should not overshadow the mountain of evidence presented against Saudi Arabia, which remains central to the plaintiffs’ case.”