A SET of ancient Persian tablets is at the centre of a tug-of-war between Iran and the American victims of a suicide bombing.

The five victims want to force the sale of the 2,500- year-old clay tablets, which have been on loan to Chicago University since 1939, as compensation for Iran’s role in the 1997 attack in Jerusalem.

But Iran has taken the unusual step of going before a US court to claim sovereign immunity from the asset seizure.

The tablets were found in southern Iran in the 1930s by archaeologists from Chicago University. Many fear that the action will deter future loans of art to the United States, but David Strachman, the victims’ lawyer, insists he is just collecting damages from Iran. He admitted he had “no idea” how much the tablets were worth.

The battle stems from an attack by three suicide bombers in Jerusalem on September 4, 1997. The Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility. Several Americans who were wounded in the bombing filed a suit against Iran and in 2003 a US judge awarded them $423.5 million (£246 million). Unable to make Iran pay up, five of the survivors went after Iranian art works and artefacts in the US.

Gil Stein, the director of Chicago University’s Oriental Institute, said that the tablets were irreplaceable.

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