TEHRAN (Tasnim) � The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned a ruling by the US Supreme Court to uphold Congress and president�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.

Deploring the court ruling, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said it �contradicts the basic principles of the international laws�.

�The ruling has mocked justice and law,� he said, and added that the move �amounts to appropriation of the Islamic Republic of Iran�s property.�

He further warned that such measures would further deepen the distrust between Tehran and Washington.

By Tasnim News Agency