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The judges appear before the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, where they ruled on an Iranian request to Washington to suspend US sanctions against Tehran. (Peter Dejong / AP)
Erin Cunningham
A Middle East reporter covering Iran, Turkey, Syria and the entire region
ISTANBUL – The highest court of the United Nations on Wednesday ordered the United States to lift any restrictions on the export of humanitarian goods and services to Iran, granting a diplomatic victory to Tehran after challenging the new US sanctions in July.
The decision of the International Court of Justice comes as the United States sought to pressure Iran to charge it with "malicious activity" in the Middle East. In May, the Trump administration withdrew from the US-led nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers, announcing the renewal of US sanctions, notably on dollar transactions, exports of food products and oil sales.
The ICJ's decision is binding, but the court in The Hague does not have the power to enforce its decisions. Iran argued that the sanctions violated the 1955 Friendship Treaty between the United States and Iran.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the directive a "new failure" for the United States and a "victory for the rule of law".
It is "imperative for the international community to collectively counteract US unilateralism", Zarif said on Twitter.
In its ruling, the court ruled that the United States "must remove" any obstacle to the free export to Iran of goods needed for humanitarian purposes, as well as spare parts for the safety of civil aviation. He said the US assurances that their sanctions would have a limited humanitarian impact were "not enough to fully address the humanitarian and security concerns raised by" Iran.
The court said the measures adopted by the United States "could have irreparable consequences".
The order, read aloud by the judge president Abdulqawi Yusuf, applies to drugs and medical devices; foodstuffs and agricultural products; and spare parts, equipment and repair services for civil aviation. The United States must also ensure that licenses and authorizations are granted and that the payment of such goods and services is unrestricted.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, co-founder of the Europe-Iran Business Forum, had previously warned that "there is no direct legal impediment to trade in humanitarian goods, but that potential restrictions are still there. ; required. " [Iranian] banks that facilitate the necessary transactions could still cause problems. "
Iran's private sector banks would be responsible for such transactions, he added, but large reserves of the US Treasury Department's Foreign Assets Control Bureau, which issues guidelines on sanctions, could trigger US law.
"Ambiguity about the scope of return restrictions. . . In Iran, bank executives and government officials have more questions than answers, "Batmanghelidj wrote on his website, Bourse & Bazaar.
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