Hague (Web Desk): The United Nation’s top court has said it can hear a case brought by Iran against the United States in a bid to end sanctions reimposed by former president Donald Trump in 2018 after pulling out of an international deal aimed at curtailing Tehran’s nuclear programme.
A majority of a panel of 16 judges on Wednesday found that the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the world court, has jurisdiction in the dispute.
Iran’s foreign minister swiftly hailed the decision as a “victory” in the case launched three years ago at the ICJ.
Tehran alleges that Trump, when he was US president, breached a 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries by pulling out of a 2015 nuclear deal — to the dismay of European allies — and reactivating the sanctions.
Washington had said the Hague-based ICJ did not have jurisdiction and must throw out the case. It also argued the sanctions were necessary because Iran posed a “grave threat” to international security.
