Some US sanctions against Iran suspended by ICJ Pending Final Decision

In a judgment delivered on 3 October 2018, the International Court of Justice (the ICJ) annulled, on an interim basis, several sanctions that the United States had unilaterally adopted against Iran.

The ICJ is the judicial arm of the UN. The Islamic Republic of Iran brought an action against the US on the grounds that the US sanctions imposed after the US withdrew from the JCPoA, contravened the Bilateral Treaty on Friendship, Economic Relations and Consular Rights that both countries signed on 15 August 1955 [1].

The Court ordered the United States to honour the obligations contained in the Treaty of Friendship. In this regard, it ordered the US to facilitate trade in the following: medicines and medical materials; foodstuffs and agricultural products; and all materials necessary to guarantee the security of civil aviation. It follows that Washington will have to issue all the licenses necessary to guarantee this trade.

Finally the Court ordered that pending final judgment, both parties must abstain from taking any measures to aggravate their dispute.