Iran has filed a lawsuit against the United States alleging that Washington's decision in May to impose sanctions after pulling out of a nuclear deal violates a 1955 treaty between the two countries, the International Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
A State Department official said the application was without merit and the U.S. would fight it in the court.
"While we cannot comment on the specifics, Iran's application is baseless and we intend to vigorously defend the United States before the ICJ," a State Department official said.
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran reached by then-President Barack Obama and other world powers, and ordered tough U.S. sanctions on Iran. Under the deal, Iran reined in its disputed nuclear program under U.N. monitoring in return for the removal of international sanctions.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is based in The Hague and is the United Nations court for resolving international disputes. Iran's filing asks the court to order the United States to provisionally lift its sanctions ahead of more detailed arguments.
"Iran is committed to the rule of law in the face of U.S. contempt for diplomacy and legal obligations," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Monday, referring to the lawsuit.
Iran said in its filing that Trump's move "has violated and continued to violate multiple provisions" of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights, signed long before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the U.S.-allied shah and triggered decades of hostile relations with the U.S.
In a lawsuit filed by Iran in 2016 based on the same 1955 treaty, the U.S. argued that the ICJ had no jurisdiction. The court has scheduled hearings in that case for this October.
The next step in the new lawsuit will be a hearing in which the United States is likely to contest whether it merits a provisional ruling. The court has yet to set a date, but hearings on requests for provisional rulings are usually heard within several weeks, with a decision coming within months.
Although the ICJ is the highest United Nations court and its decisions are binding, it has no power to enforce them, and countries – including the United States – have occasionally ignored them.
The specter of new U.S. sanctions, particularly those meant to block oil exports that are the lifeline of Iran's economy, has caused a rapid fall in the Iranian currency and triggered street protests over fears that economic hardships will soon worsen.
The Trump administration has indicated it wants a new deal with Iran that would cover its regional military activities and ballistic missile program.
Iran has said both are non-negotiable. The other signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal – Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia and China –remain committed to it.
