TEHRAN – Alireza Jahangiri, the Iranian ambassador to The Hague, has said the ruling by the International Court of Justice to ease sanctions on Tehran was a “victory for Iran”.

On Wednesday, the Hague-based UN’s top court ordered the United States 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).

“A legal victory for Iran. The U.S. isolated unanimously at the ICJ. The court ordered the U.S. to comply with its obligations violated through re-imposition of sanctions on Iranian people by withdrawal from the JCPOA,” Ambassador Jahangiri tweeted. 

The ambassador added, “The U.S. should return to the nuclear deal and respect international agreements.” 

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.

Iranian legal team has acted successfully: lawyer

Bahman Keshavarz, former head of the National Union of Iranian Court Attorneys, has said that the Iranian government’s legal team has demonstrated a successful performance at the ICJ.

“They did a professional job,” Keshavarz told IRNA in an interview published on Wednesday. 

He said the ICJ considers the Treaty of Amity valid.

Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, a senior political scientist, also said the ruling was a “victory” for Iran. He told IRNA that the U.S. propaganda against Iran will be foiled by the ICJ decision.

Hermidas-Bavand also predicted that the ruling will facilitate Iran’s cooperation with the European countries.

Saeed Mahmoudi, a professor at Stockholm University, has also said that the ruling is a “remarkable victory for Iran”, Deutsche Welle reported on Wednesday.

Following the ruling by the world’s highest court, Europe can provide medicine and airplane spare parts to Iran, Mahmoudi explained. 

Yusef Mowlai, an international law expert, said that the UN court’s ruling will help Iran be more successful in international diplomacy.

“It’s not in a way that all problems will be solved by this legal victory, however, we can use the future opportunities at the international level,” IRNA quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

U.S. exit from Treaty of Amity won’t affect ICJ ruling: diplomat

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 on Thursday that the U.S. act in withdrawing from the treaty will not affect the ruling by the UN court.

Zarif calls U.S. ‘outlaw regime’

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