Gillen urges Trump to address 9/11 victim compensation in U.S.-Iran peace deal

WASHINGTON — A permanent peace deal between the United States and Iran must prioritize payment of victim compensation claims tied to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and other state-sponsored violence, three New York lawmakers wrote Wednesday to President Donald Trump.

The letter from Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, of Rockville Centre, cosigned by Republican Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, of Staten Island, and Mike Lawler, of Pearl River, states these terror victims and their families are owed billions of dollars in judgments and damages that Iran has never paid.

"These victims and their families have suffered and waited for too long," they wrote.

In an interview, Gillen said a concern is that “Americans have been paying the price for this expensive war, with gas prices spiking and other costs spiking — a billion-dollar price tag — and it looks like we’re getting very little out of it.”

“And that is why I believe any proposed deal must come before Congress, and it must have some benefits for the American people and it must make our world safer, and it must compensate these victims,” Gillen said. “Iran has to pay these judgments before it gets one penny.”

However, in their letter, the three lawmakers go on to express concerns that the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran — billed as a preliminary framework toward a lasting peace treaty — includes waivers to allow Iran the sale of oil and access to frozen funds. 

There remains disagreement about how the mechanics of those memorandum provisions would work. There are estimates that the value of Iranian money frozen in foreign bank accounts is as high as  $24 billion, much of it related to oil sales that Iran could not withdraw because of sanctions.

Iran is demanding the release of that money. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insists the United States will oversee how much of it will be spent — such as for food or pharmaceuticals — even though there are questions about how the United States could legally assume such control.

And there is a second dollar figure being discussed, $300 billion, that refers to loans and other investments the United States could work out with regional partners to provide private money that could go to Iran's reconstruction once the sanctions are lifted.

"As the Administration continues negotiations with Iran, including discussions involving sanctions relief and access to frozen assets," the three lawmakers wrote in their letter to Trump, "we cannot allow Iran to receive economic benefits without addressing its outstanding obligations to American victims of terrorism." 

There was no immediate response from the White House on the lawmakers' letter.

Gillen, Malliotakis and Lawler went on in their letter to argue Trump is even required to see that the payments are addressed. They pointed to a law, enacted in 2015, that established a special fund to act as a path for terrorism victims to obtain compensation from the perpetrators.

"The Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act requires the President to pursue recovery of these funds from state sponsors of terrorism," they wrote, "including during negotiations over normalizing relations or lifting sanctions."

Their letter stated that, since 1979, Iran has been found in legal proceedings to have supported terrorism and terrorist groups "that have killed hundreds of American citizens," and that federal courts specifically have found Iran liable for providing material support to al-Qaida in carrying out the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

No Iranians were among the 9/11 hijackers. But court rulings, settlements and forfeiture actions have concluded that Iran held some liability for providing material support to al-Qaida that contributed to the attacks.

But the three lawmakers wrote that the victims — despite obtaining various legal judgments against Iran — remain owed billions of dollars in damages that Iran has never paid — and that Iran needs to be held accountable.

"As we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, New Yorkers will never forget the lives we lost to terrorism," the lawmakers wrote to Trump. "That is why we insist that the victims and their families’ rights to justice will be prioritized and protected in any negotiation or agreement with Iran."

Nearly 500 residents from Nassau and Suffolk counties were among the 2,977  people killed when two hijacked commercial airplanes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Others died in the coordinated hijackings of two other planes that crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and at a site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Additionally, several thousand first responders and survivors have since died from illnesses related to toxins at New York's Ground Zero.