I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3358 
To provide for payment of certain claims against the Government of Iran. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 20, 2005 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. PENCE, 
Mr. ENGEL, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. 
TANCREDO, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. KIRK, Mr. MCCOTTER, 
Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BARRETT of South Caro-
lina, Mr. POE, and Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 
to the Committee on International Relations, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for payment of certain claims against the 
Government of Iran. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On November 4, 1979, the Iranian militants 
seized the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran,
and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days until 
their negotiated release on January 20, 1981. 
(2) On January 19, 1981, the Department of 
State entered into a series of agreements with Iran 
that came to be known as the Algiers Accords. The 
accords established the United States-Iran Claims 
Tribunal to adjudicate United States and Iranian 
commercial claims. The Accords, however, sought to 
preclude the 52 American hostages or their families 
from bringing suit against Iran for their seizure, de-
tention, torture, and injuries. 
(3) On December 29, 2000, the 52 American 
hostages and their spouses and children filed suit in 
the United States District Court for the District of 
Columbia, pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effec-
tive Death Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law 104– 
132). 
(4) On August 6, 2001, the District Court en-
tered a default judgment against Iran after certi-
fying the case as a class action. 
(5) The Department of State moved to vacate 
the decision of the District Court, despite Iran’s con-
tinued refusal to appear in court. 
(6) In response to the motion to vacate by the 
Department of State, Congress amended the
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 
1996 by adding language to allow the claim of the 
hostages to proceed to judgment. The accompanying 
Conference Report specifically stated that the 
amendment ‘‘quashes the State Department’s mo-
tion to vacate the judgment obtained by plaintiffs in 
Case Number 1:00CV03110 (ESG) in the United 
States District Court for the District of Columbia’’. 
(7) Congress further reaffirmed this view by en-
acting section 208 of division B of Public Law 107– 
117, making a technical correction to the case num-
ber. 
(8) On May 12, 2003, during oral arguments, 
the United States Court of Appeals for the District 
of Columbia Circuit noted that the agreements 
reached pursuant to the Algiers Accords ‘‘were at 
the point of a gun’’, and observed that the Court 
‘‘doubt[ed] that the Government of the United 
States would defend this agreement on the theory 
that we would have entered into this voluntarily 
without them holding onto our hostages’’. 
(9) On May 12, 2003, during oral arguments 
before the Court of Appeals, the attorneys rep-
resenting the Department of Justice affirmed to the 
Court that ‘‘both Congress and the President, both
the political branches in other words, have the au-
thority to abrogate the international obligations of 
the United States’’. 
SEC. 2. STATEMENTS OF POLICY. 
(a) PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY.— 
It is the policy of the United States, as articulated in the 
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 
and in other United States laws, to seek justice for United 
States victims of terrorism and to hold terrorists and their 
state-sponsors accountable for their actions. 
(b) PREEMPTION.—United States law regarding vic-
tims of terrorism supersedes the Algiers Accords and any 
other agreement with Iran stemming from the holding of 
American hostages in Iran from November 4, 1979, 
through January 20, 1981. 
SEC. 3. JUSTICE FOR FORMER AMERICAN HOSTAGES IN 
IRAN. 
(a) INAPPLICABILITY OF ALGIERS ACCORDS.—Any 
provision of the Algiers Accords, entered into with Iran 
on January 19, 1981, that purports to bar a citizen of 
the United States from prosecuting any claim in any court 
of the United States or to limit the jurisdiction of any 
court of the United States is hereby abrogated and deemed 
nonapplicable. 
(b) COMMON FUND FOR HOSTAGES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary 
of State, shall commence payments to a common 
fund to be established and administered by the cer-
tified class representatives for the former American 
hostages in Iran and their survivors (as identified in 
case number 1:00CV03110 (EGS) of the United 
States District Court for the District of Columbia). 
Such common fund shall— 
(A) be administered to pay claims to the 
Americans held hostage in Iran, and to mem-
bers of their families, who are identified as 
class members in case number 1:00CV03110 
(EGS) of the United States District Court for 
the District of Columbia; and 
(B) be administered solely for purposes of 
satisfying such claims, as approved by the cer-
tified class representatives identified in that 
case number. 
(2) FUNDING.—Payments to the fund under 
paragraph (1) shall be derived from the liquidation 
of blocked assets (as defined in section 201(d)(2) of 
the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (Public 
Law 107–297; 28 U.S.C. 1610 note) with respect to