Legal counsel for the US government on Monday presented preliminary objections urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss a case filed by Iran seeking recovery of approximately $2 billion in frozen assets awarded to victims of a 1983 bombing attack against US barracks.

In 2016 the US Supreme Court ordered about $2 billion of the Iran state bank’s assets to be paid as compensation to relatives of victims of the attacks, which a US court determined were committed by an Iranian agent supported by the Hezbollah militant group.

According to US State Department attorney Richard Visek, the court lacks jurisdiction and should not proceed on the merits of the case. Earlier in October the Trump administration withdrew the US from the 1955 Treaty of Amity, which provided the basis for the court’s jurisdiction over the case; however, the US argues that the lawsuit was not and is not covered under the treaty. Visek also presented a social argument to the court:

The actions at the root of this case center on Iran’s support for international terrorism and its complaints about the US legal framework that allows victims of that terrorism to hold Iran accountable to judicial proceedings and receive compensation for their tragic losses. Iran’s effort to secure relief from the court in this – to in effect deny terrorism victims justice – is wholly unfounded and its applicable should be rejected in its entirety as inadmissible.

The US urged the ICJ to dismiss to Iran’s suit to preserve rightful compensation for terrorism.