UN Envoy Says ICJ Ruling on Iran Sanctions Binding for All States

TEHRAN (defapress) - Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations called on the international community to abide by the International Court of Justice’s recent verdict prohibiting restrictions on Iran, warning that assisting the US government with its anti-Iran policies would violate the ICJ’s ruling.

News ID: 73286

Date: 26 October 2018 - 13:59

Addressing a UN General Assembly meeting on Thursday, Gholam Ali Khoshroo urged the US and all other states to comply with the ICJ’s ruling on preserving Iran’s rights and the prohibition of restrictions on Tehran.

Washington ought to carry out the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ, including the avoidance of wrongful sanctions that would aggravate the dispute, he stressed.

"Moreover, to help preserve the primary role of the International Court of Justice as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, other states are also expected to refrain from assisting the US in imposing any impediments in transactions involving specified items, which would amount to violation of the court’s order and would be tantamount to providing assistance to the wrongdoer," Khoshroo added, according to Press TV.

He also underlined that the court's "unanimous order was a clear testament to the illegality of the US sanctions against our country and its people."

The Iranian ambassador then commended "the judges and all members of the court for their unwavering commitment and sense of duty in upholding the rule of law at the international level."

As regards a series of new US sanctions against Iran that are going to take effect on November 4, Khoshroo said they “would certainly amount to prohibited acts with an aggravating effect on the dispute at hand and would categorize as illegal wrongful acts contrary to the court’s dictum.”

On October 3, the ICJ found that assurances offered by Washington in August that it would do its best to ensure sanctions would not affect humanitarian conditions were "not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns raised" by Iran.

In its provisional verdict, the ICJ ruled that the US government should lift all bans on the free export of humanitarian goods like food and medicine to Iran which have been re-imposed after Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The ICJ, which is based in The Hague and is also known as the World Court, is the United Nations tribunal for resolving international disputes. Iran's filing asks the ICJ to order the United States to provisionally lift its sanctions ahead of more detailed arguments.

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