Oveissi

A federal court held Iran liable for the February 7, 1984 assassination in Paris of General Gholam-Ali Oveissi and awarded his son, Shahryar Oveissi, $37.5 million in a case brought by Herischi Law.

At a glance

• Case: Oveissi et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 19-2846 (RDM)
• Judge: Judge Randolph D. Moss
• Decided / filed: Filed 2019; default judgment August 15, 2025
• Violations: Extrajudicial killing
• Status: Default judgment entered
• Judgment awarded: $37,500,000

Who he was

Gholam-Ali Oveissi, born in 1918, was a four-star general, military governor of Tehran in 1978, and the last commander of the Imperial Iranian Army. He left Iran before the 1979 revolution, lived briefly in the United States, and settled in Paris, where he spoke out against the new government. Knowing the risk, he hired a bodyguard.

What happened

On February 7, 1984, General Oveissi and his brother, Gholam Hossein Oveissi, were walking on the Rue de Passy when gunmen fired from a car and killed them both. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility the same day.

The firm's case

Herischi Law brought this action for the General's family: his widow, Sharareh Oveissi, and the couple's sons, Shahryar and Hossein Oveissi. The defendants are the Islamic Republic of Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The family alleged that the defendants are responsible for the General's extrajudicial killing and sued under the state-sponsored terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1605A.

The defendants never answered or appeared, and the Clerk of Court entered their default on January 19, 2021. Shahryar Oveissi then moved for default judgment against Iran. On August 15, 2025, Judge Randolph D. Moss issued a memorandum opinion and order finding that he had established his right to relief under 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(c).

The judgment

The court awarded Shahryar Oveissi $7,500,000 in non-economic damages and $30,000,000 in punitive damages, for a total award of $37,500,000.

An earlier, separate case

Years earlier, the General's grandson, Amir Reza Oveissi, represented by other counsel, brought his own suit against Iran and MOIS. In that case the D.C. Circuit held in 2009 that French law governs liability (573 F.3d 835), and after a bench trial the court found the assassins acted under MOIS direction with Iran's material support.

Why it matters

• The Oveissi killing has been described as the first successful assassination of an Iranian dissident in Western Europe, opening a campaign that later claimed Kazem Rajavi and Shapour Bakhtiar.
• The judgments are early judicial findings that Iran directed extraterritorial assassinations of its opponents.
• The 2009 D.C. Circuit opinion remains a leading authority on which law governs terrorism-exception claims for attacks abroad.

Sources and coverage

2012 opinion (earlier case) · JURIST · Christian Science Monitor, 1984 · IranWire

Judgment amounts are the amounts awarded by the court, not amounts collected. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.