NEW YORK: A US court formally ordered Iran, al-Qaida and other defendants on October 3 to pay $6 billion compensation to the victims of September 11, 2001.

Although Iran denies any connection to 9/11, it was included in the list of alleged culprits by the US district court in New York, along with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Afghanistan‘s Taliban guerrillas and al-Qaida, which took credit for the terror attack.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also named.

However, the money, awarded for economic, personal and punitive damages for a total of $6,048,513,805, is unlikely to be recovered.

This is because Iran is in a tense standoff with the US over multiple issues, especially its nuclear industry and alleged plan to build an atomic weapon. Iranian-backed Hezbollah has no relations with the US.

Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, also named in the ruling, was killed by US navy SEALs in a raid in 2011.
The Taliban are in an active war with US-led troops across Afghanistan.

The ruling caps court decisions prompted by lawsuits filed by families of 47 victims from among the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11.