The US Supreme Court has upheld Congress and President Barack Obama’s actions to hold Iran financially responsible for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 Marines at their barracks in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The 6-2 ruling on Wednesday allowed the families of the Marines and victims of other attacks that courts have linked to Iran to seize some $2 billion in assets held in New York’s Citibank, belonging to Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which has been blocked under US sanctions.
The case before the court had marked a rare alliance between Obama and both houses of Congress, which are controlled by his Republican foes.
"I would say that this ruling was not unexpected, and it’s consistent with the position that we took when the legislation calling for this compensation was actually signed into law by the President back in 2012, and we have supported consistently compensation for the families in this case," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters, AFP reported.
Iran argued the law was unconstitutional as it violated separation of powers, with US lawmakers ordering a particular result in a legal case, but federal courts rejected that claim and backed the law.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the court's opinion rejecting the Iranian central bank's efforts to block payments to victims and relatives.
The 2012 law "does not transgress constraints the Constitution places on Congress and the president," Ginsburg wrote in the majority opinion.
"We perceive in (the statute) no violation of separation-of-powers principles, and no threat to the independence of the judiciary."
Instead, she said, the law "directs courts to apply a new legal standard to undisputed facts."
Chief Justice John Roberts filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined.
"Contrary to the majority, I would hold that (the law) violates the separation of powers" between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, Roberts wrote.
"The authority of the political branches is sufficient; they have no need to seize ours."