ICJ orders US to lift sanctions on Iran

THE HAGUE: The UN’s top court ordered the United States on Wednesday to lift sanctions on the humanitarian goods on Iran in a stunning rebuke to the US President Donald Trump.

Tehran hailed its "victory" after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the sanctions reimposed after Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal put Iranian lives at risk. The US said the case was "meritless" and only involved a few sanctions, although the decision is still likely to rile Trump. It remains unclear whether the judgment will be anything more than symbolic because both Washington and Tehran have ignored the ICJ decisions in the past.

The judges at the court in The Hague ruled unanimously that the sanctions on some goods breached a 1955 "Treaty of Amity" between Iran and the US that predates Iran’s Islamic US that predates Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

They said Washington "shall remove by means of its choosing any impediments arising from the measures announced on May 8 to the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities" as well as airplane parts and services, chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.

The court said sanctions on goods "required for humanitarian needs... may have a serious detrimental impact on the health and lives of individuals on the territory of Iran." US sanctions also had the "potential to endanger civil aviation safety in Iran."

Trump slapped a first round of sanctions on Iran in August after pulling out in May from the 2015 international deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, to the dismay of his European allies. A second round of punitive measures is due in November.

Iran dragged the US to the ICJ in July, and during four days of hearings in late August, its lawyers accused Washington of "strangling" its economy. Foreign drugs are now a rare commodity in Iran which is also dealing with a free-falling rial and price hikes. Official Iranian statements acknowledge the shortage and say imports of certain drugs are no longer subsidised.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the court ruling "another failure for sanctions-addicted US government and victory for rule of law". The foreign ministry said in a statement that the ruling was a "clear sign" that "Iran is at right".

Washington however says the case is outside the court’s purview as it concerns a matter of national security. "This is a meritless case over which the court has no jurisdiction," US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra tweeted.

But Hoekstra pointed out that the tribunal "declined to grant the sweeping measures requested by Iran" and it was "a narrow decision on a very limited range of sectors." Wednesday’s ruling is in fact a decision on so-called provisional measures ahead of a final decision on the matter, which may take several more years, experts said. Decisions by the Hague-based ICJ, which rules on disputes between United Nations members, are binding but it has no mechanism through which it can enforce its decisions.