July 31 (Bloomberg) -- The Iranian government must designate an official to answer questions under oath from a lawyer seeking to seize Persian artifacts in the U.S. on behalf of victims of a 1997 Jerusalem terror bombing, a judge ruled.

A lawyer for nine of the victims is trying to enforce a $409 million default judgment obtained against Iran four years ago that made the nation legally responsible for training the bombers.

``The Iranian government is going to have to comply with the rules of this court instead of trying to interpose delay and stymie the process,'' plaintiffs' lawyer David Strachman said yesterday in a phone interview. ``They have to comply with the rule of law.''

Iran hired U.S. lawyers last year to fend off Strachman's efforts to enforce the judgment by seizing and selling Persian antiquities in the possession of the University of Chicago and the city's Field Museum.

Iran's lawyer, Thomas Corcoran Jr., has argued that the antiquities, about 300 clay tablets from the Persian Empire estimated to be 2,500 years old, are protected by the federal Foreign Sovereigns Immunity Act.

Strachman, a partner in the Providence, Rhode Island, firm of McIntyre, Tate & Lynch, said the artifacts can be seized under the U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Last year, Corcoran asked U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning in Chicago to rule the artifacts couldn't be taken to compensate the victims. Strachman sought more time to gather evidence and to question an Iranian official about the tablets' legal ownership.

Judge's Ruling

On July 26, Manning rejected Iran's contention that, as a foreign government, it's exempt from the U.S. statute governing such depositions.

``I tend to think that if that goes to the court of appeals, they will disagree'' with Manning, Corcoran, a partner in Washington's Berliner Corcoran & Rowe law firm, said in a phone interview yesterday. Corcoran said he doesn't know whether Iran will appeal the ruling.

Because a judgment was issued on the bombing claim, the deposition would concern only the issue of whether Iran or the museum and the university own the artifacts, and whether they can be claimed and sold to pay the victims.

The case is Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 03c9370, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (Chicago).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 31, 2007 00:10 EDT