[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 135 (Friday, September 18, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H6143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF IRANIAN TERRORISM ACT

  (Mr. MEEHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MEEHAN. Madam Speaker, I rise to seek justice for victims of 
Iran's state-sponsored terror.
  One of those victims is Chief Petty Officer Robert Stethem. In June 
1985, Petty Officer Stethem, 23 years old, was murdered by Hezbollah 
terrorists aboard hijacked TWA Flight 847 in Beirut. He was executed 
when the hijackers realized he was a United States servicemember. They 
tortured him, and then they murdered him in cold blood before leaving 
his body on the tarmac below the plane.
  Madam Speaker, Hezbollah is one of Iran's most lethal terrorist 
proxies. In 2002, a Federal judge ordered Iran to pay more than $320 
million to Stethem's family and other victims of Flight 847's 
hijacking. It is one of the more than 80 judgments that require Iran to 
pay $43 billion to victims of its radical allies. Not one dime has been 
paid.
  Despite Iran's refusal to compensate its victims, it will soon get a 
$150 billion windfall from the end of the sanctions under the proposed 
nuclear deal. In short, Iran's hardliners will get a payday while their 
victims await billions of dollars in compensation.
  Madam Speaker, I have introduced legislation, the Justice for Victims 
of Iranian Terrorism Act, which prohibits the removal of sanctions 
until Iran pays every penny it owes. It is the least we can do for 
victims like Chief Petty Officer Stethem and the families that suffered 
at Iran's hands, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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