Iran has taken Canada to the United Nations’ highest court, accusing it of violating state immunities by allowing relatives of terror victims to seek reparations from the Islamic Republic.

In the case announced Wednesday by the International Court of Justice, Tehran argues that Canada “is obliged to respect Iran’s judicial immunity under international law” and should not allow civil lawsuits against Iran “for alleged support of terrorism or acts of terrorism.” .

According to the document, Canada should also not allow its courts to recognize foreign judgments in Iran-related terrorism cases and has no right to seize Iranian assets to enforce such judgments.

Canadian cases cited in the Iranian document include an Ontario Supreme Court ruling that the Iranian military’s January 8, 2020 shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 with two surface-to-air missiles constituted an “act of terrorism.” All 176 people on board perished.

More than 100 of the Iranian victims were Canadian citizens or residents, prompting some families of the victims to sue Iran in a Canadian civil court.

The classification of this event as an act of terrorism allowed a group of families to circumvent Iran’s legal immunity and seek compensation for the losses suffered. Foreign countries are generally immune from prosecution in Canadian courts.

The court awarded the families who filed the Ontario lawsuit a total of $107 million – $7 million in compensatory damages, in addition to $100 million in punitive damages – plus interest.

Hours before the crash, Iran fired ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the US drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

After several days of denials, the Revolutionary Guards, an Iranian paramilitary organization, issued a public apology, blaming the incident on an air defense operator that authorities say mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American missile cruiser.

The proceedings initiated by Iran before the International Court of Justice, based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, are expected to drag on for years. The decisions of the court are final and legally binding.

To see in the video