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US judge blames Iran for 1996 bombing deaths in Saudi Arabia

A federal judge blamed Tehran for the deaths of 19 members of the US Air Force in a 1996 terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia.

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WASHINGTON: At a time when the Bush administration is under tremendous pressure to open a dialogue with Iran, a federal judge in Washington blamed Tehran for the deaths of 19 members of the US Air Force in a 1996 terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia.

The Judge Royce Lamberth has further ruled that the victims' families can seek about USD 260 million from Iran by way of compensation.

The Judge ruled that the Iranian government - its Ministry of Information and Security and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - were liable for damages because they provided material support and assistance to the Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that masterminded the bombing.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the families of 17 of the 19 killed in the attack on the Khobar Towers near Dhahran on June 25, 1996.

Iran has all along denied that it had any role in the 1996 attack and did not respond to the lawsuit brought by families. Families of victims can seek payments out of Iranian assets frozen in this country.

Most of the Judge's findings were based on the investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That probe led to the indictment of 13 members of the Hezbollah in 2001, none of whom were extradited to the United States for trial.

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