[JURIST] A US federal judge ruled [PDF text] Friday that Iran is liable to pay $254 million in damages and compensation to families of American victims of a 1996 terrorist attack it helped finance on Khobar Towers [AFA backgrounder], a US military housing compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Nineteen Americans were killed in the truck bomb explosion, undertaken by a Saudi group allied with Hezbollah. Iran is not expected to pay the award, but the decision by Judge Royce Lamberth clears the way for the families to seek compensation from assets of the Iranian regime previously seized in the US.

At trial, former US FBI director Louis Freeh testified extensively about Iran's involvement in the plot, although no Iranians have been named as directly responsible for the ultimate attack. AP has more.