A judge in the District Court of Washington DC has dismissed a lawsuit by survivors and families of victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, that sought millions of dollars in damages from Iran: Judge Dismisses Khobar Towers Case Against Iran. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

And she rejected the testimony of former FBI director Louis Freeh to do it.

In an opinion handed down June 6, 2006, Judge Deborah A. Robinson asserted that the plaintiffs “offered no evidence regarding the action of any official, employee or agent” or the Iranian regime, its intelligence ministry (MOIS), or the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC.

The opinion comes at a delicate time in U.S.-Iranian relations, just a European negotiator, Javier Solana, was in Tehran to present a joint U.S.-European offer to the Iranian regime, aimed at getting Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program.

An advocate for the victims, Michael Engelberg, told Newsmax he believes the State Department intervened to get the case dismissed as a sop to the Iranian regime. “This is more than coincidental,” he said. “The timing of this, just as Solana goes to Tehran, makes me feel uncomfortable.”

In her 45-page ruling, Judge Robinson rejected testimony presented by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and his deputy, Dale Watson, on grounds that they “confined their testimony regarding the involvement of the government of Iran in the bombing of Khobar Towers to their opinions – in the words of Mr. Watson – ‘as private citizen[s].’”

However, trial transcript of the Dec. 18, 2003 hearing at which Freeh and Watson testified shows clearly that both sought to describe the FBI investigation into the bombing, but that Judge Robinson actively thwarted their testimony.

At one point, lawyers for the victims asked Freeh, “Did the FBI learn of the involvement of any foreign government in the attack?” Judge Robinson struck the question, and insisted on directing the questioning herself after that.

Freeh went on to testify that six suspects, arrested by the Saudi authorities and interviewed by the FBI – including by him personally – “admitted to us that they were members of Saudi Hezbzollah … They implicated several Iranian officials in funding and planning the attack.”

Freeh named Iranian government officials who organized the attack, provided funds, and assisted in the logistics of preparing the bomb.

“My own conclusion was that the [Khobar Towers] attack was planned, funded and sponsored by the senior leadership of the Government of Iran,” he said. “All the training and the funding was done by the IRGC with support from senior leaders of the Government of Iran.”

But Judge Robinson found that evidence from the former FBI Director uncompelling.