International Court Orders U.S. to Ease Some Iran Sanctions

Image

Iran is trying to nullify the new round of sanctions, which have inflicted pain on its troubled economy.CreditCreditArash Khamooshi for The New York Times

By Alan Cowell

Oct. 3, 2018

In a rebuke to the Trump administration, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered the United States on Wednesday to ease some sanctions against Iran, including those related to the supply of humanitarian goods and the safety of civil aviation.

The interim ruling was made in response to a plea from Tehran after President Trump’s announcement in May that he would withdraw the United States from the 2015 international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Washington is likely to challenge the ruling. The court, sometimes called the World Court, is the United Nations’ highest judicial body. It has no formal power to enforce its decisions, and the United States has long ignored its rulings.

PRESS RELEASE: the #ICJ delivers its Order on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Iran in the case of the Treaty of Amity (#Iran v. #UnitedStates) https://t.co/ZTnc2ZpDaz pic.twitter.com/DK1XVZXTqN
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) October 3, 2018

Iran had sued the United States at the International Court in a new, if dubious, strategy to nullify the new round of sanctions, which have started to inflict pain on Iran’s already troubled economy.

Mr. Trump had long scorned the 2015 accord, saying in an address in the White House: “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”

In the latest case, Iran had argued that the re-imposition of sanctions by the United States contravenes a friendship treaty between Tehran and Washington dating from 1955, long before the 1979 revolution that led to a freeze in the countries’ relationship.

But the United States has argued that the international court had no jurisdiction in the affair.

The court said on Wednesday that Washington should ensure that its sanctions do not restrict Iran’s export of medicine and medical devices, food, and agricultural commodities, along with spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.