TEHRAN -- A special committee has been established to pursue the return of the ancient Persian artifacts that a U.S. court has ruled can be sold off, Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization Research Center Director Taha Hashemi said here on Friday.

A U.S. federal judge recently rejected a key defense by the University of Chicago in a lawsuit brought by U.S. survivors of a 1997 bombing in Israel demanding that Iranian treasures in its collection be auctioned off to pay them compensation.

“The committee is working under the CHTO director and officials from the legal and international departments of the organization,” Hashemi told the Mehr News Agency.

Iran has filed a complaint at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and the CHTO intends to hire an experienced U.S. lawyer to obtain the return of the ancient tablets, he added.

Both Iran and the United States are signatories to the UNESCO Convention of 1970, which prohibits illicit trade in cultural property.

Iran’s representative to the United Nations is seriously pursuing the case and the Foreign Ministry has asked the Swiss Embassy, which hosts the U.S. Interests Section in Iran, to give explanations, Hashemi said.