US cancels treaty with Iran after UN’s highest court rules against Trump sanctions

THE United States has terminated its 1955 treaty with Iran after a UN court slammed the Trump administration’s sanctions against its former ally.

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the Trump administration is cancelling a 1955 treaty with Iran that had established economic relations and consular rights between the two nations.

The move follows a ruling by the United Nations’ highest court ordering the United States to lift sanctions on Iran that affect imports of humanitarian goods.

Mohammed Zahedin Labbaf, agent for the Islamic Republic of Iran, (second left), at the International Court of Justice where judges ruled against the US sanctions on Iran. Picture: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

Iran alleges that the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after its withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran violated the so-called Treaty of Amity.

Mr Pompeo told reporters on Wednesday that the termination of the treaty was decades overdue.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says ending the “friendship” treaty with Iran is 39 years overdue and its claims against the sanctions are “absurd”. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

He said that Iran was abusing the International Court of Justice for political and propaganda purposes.

He said Iran’s claims under the treaty were “absurd.”

The United States has called the international ruling against its Iran sanctions a defeat for Tehran as the result was the termination of the treaty.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands ruled on an Iranian request to order Washington to suspend US sanctions against Tehran. Picture: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

The International Criminal Court ordered the United States to lift sanctions on medicine, food and civilian aeroplane spare parts, just as President Donald Trump tries to squeeze Iran’s economy.

The International Court of Justice unanimously ruled Washington should remove barriers to "the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities”. Picture: AFP

But Mr Pompeo noted that the UN court did not rule more broadly against US sanctions and he insisted that the United States already exempted humanitarian goods from the sanctions.

“The court’s ruling today was a defeat for Iran. It rightly rejected all of Iran’s baseless requests,” Mr Pompeo told reporters.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that ending the US treaty with Iran is “39 years overdue”, referring to the date of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

Accusing Iran of “abusing the ICJ for political and propaganda purposes,” Mr Pompeo announced that the United States was ending a friendship treaty signed when Iran was ruled by the pro-US shah.

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) meets with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the UN. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP

“This is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue,” Mr Pompeo said, referring to the time since the 1979 Islamic revolution transformed Iran from one of the closest allies to a determined foe.

“Given Iran’s history of terrorism, ballistic missile activity and other malign behaviours, Iran’s claims under the treaty are absurd,” he said.

An Iranian woman holds anti-US sign during a demonstration in Tehran on September 28, 2018. The US has cancelled its 63-year-old “friendship” treaty with Iran. Picture: STR/AFP

The Treaty of Amity with Iran, signed in 1955 and ratified by the US Senate a year later, lays out practicalities for unfettered economic relations and consular rights between the two countries.

The US withdrawal will have limited direct effect, with the two countries not even having diplomatic relations.

Donald Trump chairs a UN Security Council meeting on September 26, 2018. The UN’s court ruled against the US, prompting it to end its treaty with Iran. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

But Iran has repeatedly cited the treaty to press claims from the United States, including when the US Navy shot down an Iran Air civilian plane in 1988, killing 290 people.