Marco Rubio: Families of Victims of Terrorism Should Be Able to Sue Iran
Marco Rubio: Families of Victims of Terrorism Should Be Able to Sue Iran
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced towards the end of last week that he was backing U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., bill allowing American families impacted by Iranian-backed terrorism sue that Middle Eastern nation.
Rubio joined a host of senators including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, in backing the legislation and they pointed to Iran’s support of the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983. More than 300 American and French military personnel were killed in the terrorist attack.
“More than thirty years after Iranian terrorists bombed the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, the United States Senate is sending a clear message of support to the victims’ families as they rightfully fight for the opportunity to seize Iranian assets as restitution for the attack,” Rubio said.
“Iran’s terrorist puppets killed 241 Americans in the 1983 Marine Corps bombing, including 220 Marines. Our bill will help victims and their families obtain restitution for Iran’s bloody crimes from money the regime has laundered through a European bank,” Cotton said.
“Our bipartisan bill would help deliver long-overdue justice for the victims of the Beirut bombing. The hundreds of Marine families who lost a loved one to Iranian state-sponsored terrorism have a right to restitution,” Whitehouse said.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Rubio sits, on Thursday. The companion bill in the U.S. House is being championed by U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., and U.S. Rep. Rubin Gallego, D-Ariz.
Last month, Rubio worked with Cotton, Whitehouse, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Ok. and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson to write U.S. Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco on the matter. Pointing to the Clearstream Banking S.A. v. Peterson case, the senators insisted the Justice Department could use it to sue Iran.
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