WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the U.S. is canceling a 1955 treaty with Iran establishing economic relations and consular rights between the two nations.
The move follows a ruling by the United Nations’ highest court ordering the United States to lift sanctions on Iran that affect imports of humanitarian goods.
Iran alleges that the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after its withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran violated the so-called Treaty of Amity.
Pompeo told reporters Wednesday that the termination of the treaty was decades overdue. He said that Iran was abusing the International Court of Justice for political and propaganda purposes.
He said Iran’s claims under the treaty were “absurd.”
.@SecPompeo: In light of how #Iran has abused the @cij_icj as a form for attacking the United States, I am therefore announcing today that the United States is terminating the Treaty of Amity with Iran. pic.twitter.com/AlPqUswsBC
— Department of State (@StateDept) October 3, 2018
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