February 26, 2021
The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled against the United States and in favor of Iran, saying it has legal jurisdiction to try a case brought by Iran asserting that the sanctions re-imposed by President Trump are illegal.
The vote by the 16-judge panel was almost unanimous. The US made five arguments for why the ICJ, often call the World Court informally, lacked jurisdiction to try the case. The justices rejected three of those arguments unanimously and the other two by 15-1 votes.
The sole dissenting judge was Charles Brower, one of the two American judges on the panel. The other US judge, Joan Donoghue, voted against the USS all five times. (A few days after the case was decided, Donoghue was elected president of the court by the other judges and she will preside over the upcoming trial of the Iranian case.)
The issue decided in February was purely procedural dealing with whether the court had jurisdiction—and not substantive dealing with whether the US actions were illegal. The ICJ will now move onto the substance, but the case is expected to take years to resolve.
Iran is not contending that the sanctions are illegal under international law although it claims that repeatedly in public statements. It is contending that the US cannot impose sanctions on Iran under the 1955 Treaty of Amity between Iran and the United States.
In Tehran, President Rohani loudly touted the decision as a great “victory” for Iran. He also said, “We went to the International court several times and, thank God, we have always won.” That is not true. The Islamic Republic and Iran have had five cases before the court. Two are still pending. A third was withdrawn when the US and Iran negotiated a settlement of the shooting down of an Iranian airliner by the US Navy in 1988.
Of the other two, Iran won one and the US won the other. Iran won its case challenging the US shelling of two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, with the court saying the attack was unjustified, also based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity, but denying Iran demand for payment for lost oil exports, pointing out that neither platform was use at the time. The US won its suit over the 1979 embassy seizure, with the court ordering Iran to free the hostages, hand the embassy back to the United States and pay reparations. Iran freed the hostages, but only after negotiating the release for a payment, and has ignored the other orders of the court.
Zarif tweeted, “Iran has always fully respected international law. High time for the US to live up to its international obligations.”
Several weeks after Iran filed the latest case against the United States using the 1955 Treaty of Amity as the basis for the suit, the US exercised its right to withdraw from the treaty, so Iran will not be able to use that treaty in the future to sue the United States.
The ICJ’s rulings are binding, but it has no power to enforce them. The US and Iran are among a handful of countries to have ignored its decisions.
The court was set up by the UN after World War II to rule in disputes between member states.
As for the 1955 Treaty of Amity, the US withdrew from the treaty shortly after Iran filed the latest case against the US based on the treaty, so the Islamic Republic will not be able to bring future cases against the US under the treaty based on anything done since the withdrawal.