Hossein Alikhani is an Iranian businessman who was abducted in a sting operation by American undercover customs agents in 1992 and released after 130 days.

Alikhani was seized in the Bahamas in 1992, accused of violating American sanctions against Libya, and held for 130 days. He was kidnapped because the sanctions did not apply to non-American citizens living outside the United States.^[1][2]

Alikhani filed a suit against the United States for "kidnapping" him and, won the first lawsuit by an Iranian against the United States for supporting terrorism.^[3] Iran informed US government through Swiss consulate in Tehran. According to the court decision US government must pay 550 million US dollars to Mr. Alikhani.

As US refused to compensate for the damages, Alikhani asked the court to put the US embassy in Tehran on sale. Alikhani expects to make as much as $200 million from the sale, much less than the $550 million awarded him by the Tehran court.^[4]

Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University, says the US made a mistake by allowing Americans to collect such large damages in these uncontested cases. "If we could play that game, others can play that game too," says Mr. Sick, who served at the National Security Council under three presidents.^[5] Gary Sick is the author of October Surprise and the executive director of the Gulf/2000 Project. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ...

Notes

See also

• Iran hostage crisis
• State sponsored terrorism