AJ:

Economic sanctions have often been seen as a crude political tool with varying effectiveness in bending the will of governments, whether it was Cuba, North Korea or apartheid South Africa.

But the continuing US sanctions against Iran have given some measure of personal satisfaction to dozens of American families who've begun to receive cash payments as compensation for the loss or maiming of loved ones in what the US has judged to be state-sponsored acts of terrorism.

Among the recipients are the 53 Americans taken hostage in 1979 and held at their embassy in Tehran for 444 days.

More than $1bn has been disbursed from a fund established by Congress.

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