Accusing Washington of attempts to “rewrite history,” Iran has firmly rejected as a “mockery” of the justice system the US court’s recent default ruling which ordered Tehran to pay over $6 billion in damages to 9/11 victims.
The rulings against Tehran are especially astounding since none of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001, were even Iranian citizens, and no investigation ever found links to Iran. The 9/11 Commission –the organization tasked with investigating the attacks– has said there is no evidence indicating direct Iranian involvement or suggesting that Tehran was even aware of the 9/11 plot. The only known connection is that several hijackers once allegedly travelled through Iran on their way to Afghanistan and supposedly did not have their passports stamped.
In his default verdicts, however, Daniels agreed with the claim that Tehran somehow provided technical assistance, training and planning to terrorists, even though the overwhelming majority of the suspects came from Saudi Arabia, the geopolitical rival and arch-enemy of Iran in the region. Fifteen of the terrorists that took part in the 9/11 plot were citizens of Saudi Arabia, while two were from the United Arab Emirates and one from Egypt and Lebanon
