An Iranian court has ordered the United States to pay over $22 billion for allegedly backing the 2022 mass protests, a judiciary spokesman announced.
TEHRAN: An Iranian court has ordered the United States to pay more than $22 billion for allegedly supporting mass protests in 2022.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir announced the ruling at a weekly press conference on Tuesday.
“The US government has been ordered by a Tehran court to pay more than $22 billion for providing material and moral support to the 2022 rioters,” Jahangir said.
He claimed the “traces of the United States are evident in many crimes committed in Iran, including during the sinister events of autumn 2022.”
The nationwide protests erupted in September 2022 following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
She had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.
Her death triggered months of unrest where hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, were killed.
Authorities arrested thousands while branding the protests as foreign-instigated “riots”.
Jahangir also accused the US and Israel of fomenting and “instrumentalising tensions” in Iran at the time.
“These actions have resulted in the death of innocent people and considerable material damage, both private and public,” he stated.
In response to the crackdown, Washington announced new sanctions against Iranian officials in October 2022 and again in 2024.
The US Treasury sanctioned individuals accused of human rights abuses during the unrest.
Since the protests, many women in Iran have increasingly flouted the mandatory dress code.
The requirement to cover their neck and head has been compulsory since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In a separate incident in mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, triggering a 12-day war.
During the conflict, the US briefly joined with strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites.
