Iran to build legal case against US
Tehran wants to sue Washington for its indirect involvement in the dual terrorist attacks in Iran last year, saying that the US president himself has repeatedly admitted that Washington is responsible for the rise of the Daesh terrorist group.
During his election campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly accused his predecessor’s administration – in particular, Democratic Party rival and former secretary of state Hilary Clinton – of creating Daesh.
“Hillary Clinton created ISIS [Daesh] with Obama,” Trump told his supporters in January 2016.
Trump said that Daesh was formed in the vacuum left after former US president Barack Obama and then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton prematurely withdrew forces from Iraq.
“You [Hillary Clinton] were secretary of state when it [Daesh] was a little infant. Now, it’s in over 30 countries, and you’re going to stop them? I don’t think so,” Trump said.
Now, Tehran is turning Trump’s rhetoric into a case against the US, blaming Washington for its role in orchestrating terrorist attacks on Iran’s Parliament and mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in Tehran in June 2017, for which Daesh claimed responsibility.
“During the presidential campaign, Trump clearly spoke about the performance of his rival, Mrs. Clinton, saying that the US has created Daesh,” Abolfazl Aboutorabi, a member of Parliament’s Judicial Committee, said on Tuesday.
Aboutorabi announced that Parliament had decided to initiate a lawsuit against Washington in the international court. “The public prosecutor has filed a lawsuit in this regard,” Aboutorabi added, according to FARS News Agency.
At least 17 people were killed and dozens were injured in gun and bomb attacks at the Iranian Parliament and the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum. According to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, the five attackers who were neutralized by security forces were Iranian citizens who joined Daesh before returning to Iran in the summer of 2016.
The Parliament’s move came days after a court in the US claimed that Iran provided technical assistance, training and planning to the Al-qaeda operatives that conducted the 9/11 attacks.
This is while, the official investigation on the attacks, known as the 9/11 Commission Report, has said that Iran did not play a role.
The lawsuit is not linked to a case filed against Saudi Arabia, which families of 9/11 victims say provided direct support for the attackers.
Fifteen of the attackers were Saudi citizens, two were Emiratis, and the remaining two were Egyptian and Lebanese.
Iran severely slammed the New York court ruling which calls on Tehran to pay a large amount of money to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
“The issue of such illegal rulings are in stark violation of international commitments, law and accepted procedures which call for judicial immunity of governments,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Monday.
He added that his country reserves all its legal rights to battle the verdict and its probable damages.