Judge awards $44 million for ’83 Beirut attack

AP: A federal judge has awarded $44.6 million from Iran to victims of the 1983 suicide truck-bombing attack on U.S. Marines in Beirut. But the money will be difficult to collect. The Associated Press

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has awarded $44.6 million from Iran to victims of the 1983 suicide truck-bombing attack on U.S. Marines in Beirut. But the money will be difficult to collect.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth awarded the money Wednesday to two servicemen who were injured, Jeffery Paul O’Brien and Daniel Lane Gaffney, and their family members. The lawsuit claimed that Iran was involved in the attack, which killed 241 servicemen.

Lamberth said the court “applauds plaintiffs’ persistent efforts to hold Iran accountable for its cowardly support of terrorism.”

O’Brien and Gaffney were each awarded around $6.7 million.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Joseph Peter Drennan, said that he believes that the judgment will be enforced against blocked Iranian assets in the United States.