Tehran demands significant financial reparations from Washington for the economic consequences of long-standing sanctions, according to a high-ranking official.
A senior Iranian official has asserted that the United States owes Iran one trillion dollars in compensation for decades of economic sanctions, further accusing Washington of supporting terrorist organizations.
In a recent address, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, condemned the US-led West, referring to it as the “Arrogant Front,” for employing “various tactics in the form of hybrid warfare” to destabilize Iran.
Shamkhani alleged that the US openly acknowledges its role in establishing groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, aiming to create discord between Iran and its neighbors while protecting its ally, Israel.
Shamkhani criticized the US sanctions imposed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, stating, “The Americans should pay a trillion dollars in damages to Iran for hindering our country’s progress for 25 years.”
The US has implemented numerous rounds of economic sanctions against Iran since the Islamic Revolution, labeling it a “state sponsor of terrorism.” A period of détente occurred in 2015 with the nuclear deal, offering sanctions relief in exchange for limitations on Iran’s nuclear program. However, the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from this agreement in 2018, reinstating sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector and financial system.
In 2021, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif estimated that US sanctions had caused $1 trillion in economic damage to Iran, demanding compensation from Washington as a condition for rejoining the nuclear deal.
Shamkhani’s remarks follow a December 2023 Iranian court ruling ordering the US government, including the Department of Defense, President-elect Trump, former Secretary of State Pompeo, the NSA, and CIA, to pay nearly $50 billion in damages for the 2020 assassination of Qasem Soleimani and issue a public apology to the over 3,000 Iranian citizens who filed the lawsuit.