TEHRAN – The International Court of Justice on Monday began hearing a lawsuit brought by Iran against new U.S. sanctions ordered by the Trump administration. 

Iran last month lodged a complaint with the Hague-based tribunal, reasoning that the sanctions violate the terms of a 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries. 

Iran on Monday demanded an ICJ order for the suspension of the renewed U.S. sanctions, and demanded compensation for damages incurred in their wake.

Mohsen Mohebbi, Iran’s lawyer at The Hague told the court that the new sanctions violated the 1955 U.S.-Iranian Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights.

He added the sanctions are corrosive to the Iranian economy and society, and further complicate the already volatile situation in the region.

President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May and ordered the most restrictive sanctions on the country. 

Washington reinstated the first batch of sanctions in early August and will re-impose the second batch in November which will primarily target Iran’s oil exports.

The United States’ lawyers were scheduled to present their arguments on Tuesday. They were expected to argue that the ICJ should not have jurisdiction in the dispute. 

The U.S. lawyers will reportedly claim that the friendship treaty signed before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 is no longer valid and that the sanctions Washington has levied against Tehran, do not violate it anyway.

The oral arguments, essentially a request by Iran for a provisional ruling, will last for four days, with a decision to follow within a month.

The ICJ was set up in 1946 to resolve international disputes. Its rulings are binding but on rare occasions they have been ignored by certain countries, chiefly the United States.

SP/PA