TEHRAN – On Monday the International Court of Justice starts holding hearings over Tehran’s complaint against the U.S. for seizing Iran’s assets.

The hearings will last until Friday.

In June 2016, Iran announced that it had filed a formal complaint with the ICJ to recover nearly $2 billion in assets frozen in the United States.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran officially complained about America to the International Court of Justice for the confiscation and theft of two billion dollars of the property of the central bank,” Rouhani said at the time. “And demanded the condemnation of Washington’s anti-Iranian action and compensation for damages.”

On Wednesday, the Hague-based UN’s top court ordered the U.S. to ease some sanctions against Iran, including those related to the supply of humanitarian goods and the safety of civil aviation.

The ruling was made in response to a plea from Tehran after President Trump’s announcement in May that he would withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 international nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Amity in 1955 which is still valid according to international law. The treaty consists of an introduction and twenty-three articles and emphasizes encouraging mutual trade and investments.

Angry over the ICJ ruling, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately on Wednesday announced that Washington is pulling out the Treaty of Amity.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Gholam-Hossein Dehqani told IRNA Thursday that the U.S. act in withdrawing from the treaty will not affect the ruling by the UN court.

After the U.S. announced its withdrawal from the Treaty of Amity, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Trump administration has turned into an “outlaw regime”.  

“US abrogated JCPOA -a multilateral accord enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231- arguing that it seeks a bilateral treaty with #Iran. Today US withdrew from an actual US-Iran treaty after the ICJ ordered it to stop violating that treaty in sanctioning Iranian people. Outlaw regime,” Zarif tweeted.

NA/PA