Regarding the recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court sentencing Iran to pay nearly $2 billion to American victims of terrorist attacks, Iranian officials and media condemned the act calling it a mockery of international law and a new threat to any improvement with relation to the implementation of JCPOA.
Iran has warned the ruling increases the distrust between Tehran and Washington, proving the true face of the US, which is called unreliable.
Mark Glenn believes the move represents that despite all the resources that have been committed towards creating the illusion that United States has somehow had a change of heart with regards to the Islamic Republic of Iran, nothing of the sort has taken place.
In an interview to Mehr News, American political analyst Mark Glenn answered the questions on the issue:
Does the recent US court ruling question the credibility of the US justice system? Why US did an act which can have a considerable impact on its nuclear deal with Iran, reached after years of talks, amid the days of JCPOA implementation?
Here in America, the illusion exists that somehow there is ‘separation of powers’ between the Legislative (Congress), the Executive (White House) and the Judiciary, which is made up by the Court System. This ‘separation’, which we are told is there to insure ‘balance’ of power so that private interests are not able to wield undue influence for reasons that are specific only to them, is, as intimated earlier, merely an illusion. Much like the phrase ‘bringing Democracy to the Middle East,’ which the United States uses as justification for all types of murder and mayhem she has perpetrated against the people of Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc, ‘separation of powers’ is a form of linguistic black magic and deliberate deployment of deception and duplicity intended to create the appearance of something that in fact does not exist.
Having said this, the recent decision handed down by the US Supreme Court declaring Iran ‘guilty’ of involvement in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Lebanon, resulting in the appropriation of $2 billion of seized Iranian funds is/should be instructive to everyone. What it represents is the US Supreme Court--again, which the world is told is an ‘independent’ branch of the US Government--being used for political purposes. It should be noted that no criminal trial was held in determining Iran’s ‘guilt’ in this terrible affair, but rather that a summary judgment from the presiding judge in was/is the entire basis upon which Iran has been found ‘guilty’. The obvious question that must be asked and answered is why no criminal trial was convened, if indeed all the evidence was there of Iran’s participation in this event.
Some Iranian officials have called US recent court ruling as an ‘international banditry’, how do you evaluate this?
'International banditry’ is indeed a good word to use. Here in America, when one wants to convey the idea that the court system and the appearance of law are utilized in adjudicating a certain pre-determined outcome, the term ‘Kangaroo court’ is used. In this case, it must be remembered, again, that it was nearly 20 years before a civil complaint--not a criminal complaint--was brought against the Islamic Republic of Iran for this act, was heard in a small US District Court where other cases involving relatively minor legal controversies are held, and that a summary judgment was issued from the bench rather than a jury issuing its verdict.
It is also important to remember the date when the first civil complaint was issued--Oct. 3, 2001, a mere 3 weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when anti-Islamic hatred was running at a fevered pitch in America, and in the aftermath of then-President George W. Bush issuing his infamous speech in Congress declaring a ‘crusade’ against Islamic terrorism, wherein he named Iran as part of the ‘Axis of Evil’.
It is safe to conclude therefore that pro-Israel/anti-Iran forces obviously sought to capitalize on the tragic events of 9/11 and the anti-Islamic fury that had gripped America by throwing together a civil case against Iran wherein the Islamic Republic was declared ‘guilty’ of the murder of over 200 US Marines, a verdict that then could be waved in the faces of Americans who knew nothing about the events in Beirut in 1983 nor the ‘banditry’ that had just taken place in the US District Court, and in a very sly and deceptive manner, the murder of 3,000 Americans on 9/11 would be paired up with the murder of over 200 US Servicemen in 1983.
Is the move in violation of the US obligations according to the Joint Comprehensive plan of Action (JCPOA)?
Whether it is legally and technically a violation of the JCPOA is immaterial to the fact that what it represents is prime efface evidence that despite all the resources that have been committed towards creating the illusion that United States has somehow had a change of heart with regards to the Islamic Republic of Iran, that nothing of the sort has taken place. The US is just as committed to subduing Iran, to subverting her sovereignty and of making her like any other vassal state as she was when she engineered the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 remains a thorn in the eye of the United States and Israel and thus both are determined to wipe that 1979 Revolution off the map as a means of salving the wounded ego of American and Zionist imperialism that received a mortal blow when the people of Iran kicked out the American puppet Pahlavi and established the IRI that exists today close to 4 decades later.
What is the best reaction on behalf of Iran towards the issue? Are there any ways to have that money back?
In my opinion, the first thing that Iranians need to do in dealing with this recent abrogation of justice is to recognize it for what it is--again, prime efface evidence that the United States cannot be trusted, despite whatever theatrics are employed in creating the mirage that a warming of relations has begun between the 2 countries. From there, Iran should take her case internationally, but not necessarily to the UN or to the ICC, as both are tentacles of American/Western/Zionist imperialism, and therefore the chances of getting justice are slim to none, to say nothing of the detrimental effect that would result from having either body reaffirm the previous decision handed down by the US Supreme Court. Rather, Iran and her governing bodies should use this in showing the hypocrisy of the US and the West and to use it in building political support both within Iran and in the region, given that the US is desperately trying to divide not only that nation but as well the entire Islamic world.
And finally, in underscoring just how much more to this story there is than what has been revealed publicly, I think it is important to consider the testimony of a former Mossad agent, Victor Ostrovsky, who described in his book ‘By Way of Deception--The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer’, how Israel knew the bombing was about to occur, but deliberately refused to warn the Americans, to wit--
“In the summer of 1983, this same informant told the Mossad about a large Mercedes truck that was being fitted by the Shi’ite Muslims with spaces that could hold bombs. Now, the Mossad knew that because of its size, there were only a few logical targets, one of which must be the US compound. The question then (within Mossad) was whether or not to warn the Americans to be on particular alert for a truck matching the description. Admony, in refusing to give the Americans specific information on the truck, said, ‘No, we’re not there to protect Americans.’ At the same time, however, all Israeli installations were given the specific details and warned to watch for a truck matching the description of the Mercedes. At 6:20 a.m. on October 23, 1983, a large Mercedes truck approached the Beirut airport, passing well within sight of Israeli sentries in their nearby base and turning left into the parking lot. A US Marine guard reported with alarm that the truck was gathering speed, but before he could do anything, the truck roared toward the entrance of the four-story reinforced concrete Aviation Safety Building, used as headquarters for the Eighth Marine Battalion, crashing through a wrought-iron gate and exploding with such a terrific force that the building was instantly reduced to rubble...The loss of 241 US Marines, most of them still sleeping in their cots at the time of the suicide mission, was the highest single-day death toll for the Americans since 246 died throughout Vietnam at the start of the Tet offensive on January 13, 1968. The general attitude at Mossad about the Americans was: “As far as the Yanks go, we are not here to protect them. They can do their own watching. They wanted to stick their nose into this thing, so let them pay the price.”
Mark Glenn is an American author and journalist in Idaho who has co-founded Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement. He regularly writes on different topics on The Ugly Truth.
Interview by Lachin Rezaian
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