In 1996 , the governments of the United States and Iran reached Achieve a settlement at the International Court of Justice which included Cause_to_be_included the statement Statement `` ... the United States recognized Know the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed Expressing_publicly deep regret over the loss of lives caused Causation by the incident ... '' As part of the settlement , even though the U.S. government did not admit legal Legality liability or formally apologize Judgment_communication to Iran , it still agreed Agree_or_refuse_to_act to pay Commerce_pay US $ 61.8 million on an `` ex gratia '' basis , amounting to $ 213,103.45 per passenger , in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims .