Iran Blasts US’ Decision to Quit Amity of Treaty

“US abrogated JCPOA -a multilateral accord enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231- arguing that it seeks a bilateral treaty with Iran. Today US withdrew from an actual US-Iran treaty after the ICJ ordered it to stop violating that treaty in sanctioning Iranian people,” Zarif said in a Wednesday tweetm calling the Trump administration an “outlaw regime.”

His remarks came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US was cancelling the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran, after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Washington to halt the unilateral sanctions it recently re-imposed on “humanitarian” exports to the Islamic Republic.

The treaty established economic relations and consular rights and was signed during the terms of former US President Dwight Eisenhower and former Iranian Prime Minister Hossein Ala.

Iran filed a complaint with the ICJ — the principal judicial organ of the United Nations — in July after US President Donald Trump’s decision in May to quit the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Trump said back then that he would reinstate sanctions removed as a result of the multilateral accord while introducing tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The ICJ’s top tribunal – known as the World Court — concluded Wednesday that US assurances that the sanctions won’t hurt humanitarian aid “were not adequate.”

The Hague-based court then ordered Washington to remove sanctions that impeded “the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities” as well as airplane parts.

“Another failure for sanctions-addicted USG and victory for rule of law,” Zarif wrote in a tweet after the ruling.