A federal judge has ruled the University of Chicago cannot protect Iran's ownership rights to a collection of Persian antiquities.
U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning's ruling means a group of people injured by a terrorist bombing in Israel can seize the tablets from Persepolis, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. They sued Iran in the United States and won a $71 million judgment.
I thought we already knew this, but nevermind (I do have to say that either I've read the story in the last link before or all it consists of are bits and pieces of other's reporting, because it is very familiar.) The article goes on to note that the issues involved in the other related lawsuits concern actually accession objects. One hopes that bootstrapping won't work in that instance, at least. And I remember what I wrote about this particular case some time ago: "What does seem clear is that to allow even these objects, which unlike those in Detroit or elsewhere do seem to be Iranian property, to be seized, would create a very bad situation for any American loans abroad." We're there now; watch out, National Gallery.
UPDATE: The Chicago Sun-Times has a little more.
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