An Iranian woman shops at a drug store at the Nikan Hospital in Tehran on, September 11 (AFP photo)

THE HAGUE — The World Court ordered the United States on Wednesday to ensure that sanctions against Iran, due to be tightened next month, do not affect humanitarian aid or civil aviation safety.

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed a victory to Tehran, which had argued that sanctions imposed since May by the administration of US President Donald Trump violate the terms of a 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two countries.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected the decision, saying the court has no jurisdiction and that Washington would terminate the treaty.

However, Pompeo said the United States would work to ensure it is providing humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people.

“I’m announcing that the US is terminating the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran. This is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, referring to the date of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Pompeo said Iran was misusing the court for political purposes and that the United States was actively ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches the country, without regard to the court ruling.

“We’re disappointed that the court failed to recognise that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions with the United States, which is doing its work on Iran to protect its own essential security interests,” Pompeo said.

The ruling is likely to have, at most, limited practical impact on the implementation of sanctions, which Washington is reimposing and tightening after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with world powers.

The court order issued on Wednesday is temporary, pending a resolution of Iran’s full lawsuit against Washington by the ICJ, something that could take years.

Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement “the decision proved once again that the Islamic republic is right and the US sanctions against people and citizens of our country are illegal and cruel.

“The United States must comply with its international commitments and lift obstacles to Iranian trade,” it added.

The ICJ is the United Nations’ highest court for resolving disputes between nations. Its rulings are binding, but it has no power to enforce them, and both the United States and Iran have ignored them in the past.

The court said assurances offered by Washington to ensure sanctions do not affect humanitarian conditions were “not adequate”.

“The court considers that the United States must... remove, by means of its choosing, any impediment arising from the measures announced on 8 May 2018,” said Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf, reading a summary of a ruling by the 15-member panel of justices.

The sanctions may not hurt “exportation to the territory of Iran of goods required for humanitarian needs such as medicines, medical devices and foodstuffs and agricultural commodities as well as goods and services required for the safety of civil aviation”, he said.

While US sanctions “in principle” exempt food and medical supplies, the court said “it has become difficult if not impossible for Iran, Iranian nationals and companies to engage in international financial transactions” to purchase such goods.

The Trump administration argued last month that Iran’s request was an attempt to misuse the court and that the 1955 treaty specifically ruled out using courts to resolve disputes.

The treaty was signed long before Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution which turned the two countries into arch-enemies.

US State Department Legal Adviser Jennifer Newstead had said Iran’s real quarrel was its frustration over the US pullout from the nuclear pact, under which Tehran restricted its disputed uranium enrichment programme under UN monitoring in exchange for a lifting of most international sanctions.

Trump’s unilateral move has put it at odds with the other signatories to the deal, including Washington’s close European allies Britain, France and Germany as well as Russia and China.

Washington nonetheless plans to pursue a new series of sanctions due to go into effect November 4 aimed at curtailing Iranian oil exports, the lifeblood of its economy.</s>This is a breaking story and may be updated...

After the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ruled the Trump administration's sanctions against Iran violate the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "impetuously" declared at a morning press conference that the United States will terminate the decades-old bilateral agreement rather than comply with the United Nations court's order to ease sanctions.

Critics of the move immediately spoke out and warned of potentially dire consequences.

"The 1955 US-Iran treaty provided a tool for resolving disputes when diplomacy failed," noted Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). "Pompeo walking out of it signals that he wants to make sure that disputes with Iran are NOT resolved peacefully."

The ruling earlier in the day by the Hague-based court had stated U.S. assurances that the sanctions would not negatively impact humanitarian aid and aviation safety "were not adequate." The decision was welcomed by Iran's Foreign Ministry, which condemned the measures as "illegal and cruel."

Pompeo's announcement that the U.S. is canceling the 1955 agreement—similar to the President Donald Trump's decision to ditch the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year and coupled with reports that Pompeo and Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton are actively working to "foment unrest" in Iran—elicited immediate concerns about future engagement with the country.

"The drums of war are beating," journalist Aaron Rupar warned on Twitter.

"As you can see, Article 1 on the Treaty—'There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran'—hasn't aged very well over the years," remarked Foreign Policy reporter Robbie Gramer.

During his announcement at the State Department on Wednesday, Pompeo said with a chuckle, "This is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue," an apparent reference to the 1979 Iranian revolution in which the U.S.-backed Shah was overthrown.</s>US terminates 1955 treaty with Iran after UN court ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic gesture highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.

"The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us," Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the "so-called state of Palestine" challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.

Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over "politicized cases." He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.

Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as "meritless" and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.

"The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago," he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: "There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran."

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran's Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a "useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity" of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

"The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ," he said.

At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

"We're disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States."

The ruling said Washington must "remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from" the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo "are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns" raised by Iran.

The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was "another failure for sanctions-addicted" U.S. and a "victory for rule of law." He said it was imperative for other countries 'to collectively counter malign US unilateralism" and he accused the U.S. of being an "outlaw regime."

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.

Associated Press writers Susannah George in Washington and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.</s>U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-un on Sunday in preparation for a second denuclearization summit between President Donald Trump and the Asian country’s dictator, a Department of State spokesperson said Tuesday.

“These conversations are going in the right direction, and we feel confident enough to hop a plane to head there to continue the conversations,” Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for DOS, told reporters.

The spokeswoman noted that negotiations to convince Kim to take credible steps towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for relief from international sanctions are ongoing, adding:

I think it shows forward progress and momentum that the secretary is making his fourth trip back in less than a year. The first of course was as CIA director. This will be his third as secretary of state, and that shows the president’s commitment to the agreement that he and Chairman Kim came to at the Singapore Summit [in June]. The secretary going on for follow-on conversations. As we often say, the conversations continue. Of course we have quite a ways to go but we look forward to the next steps in this conversation.

Nauert said that Pompeo remains “hopeful” that the Trump administration’s goal of a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula might be achieved by January 2021.

The secretary and the president said we’re not going to set arbitrary deadlines in the interim. We’re hopeful. We’re working toward that goal. Everyone recognizes that we have a way to go. A ways to go and a lot of work that is left to be done. I’m not going to get ahead of the secretary’s meetings that he’ll have in Pyongyang but I know he looks forward to continuing the conversation.

Nauert pointed out that the easing of sanctions remains contingent upon the verification of credible steps towards the peninsula’s complete denuclearization, telling reporters:

Our [sanctions] policies [towards North Korea] have not changed one bit. We got behind the maximum pressure campaign. The United States government still stands firmly behind the sanctions put in place. The world stands behind those sanctions that are put in place. We’ve not eased that one bit. In fact, every chance we have the opportunity to discuss – whether it’s with China or Russia or any other country around the world, we’re talking about keeping the sanctions in place and not easing those sanctions on North Korea until we see the fully verified denuclearization.

Her comments came a day after a South Korean minister told lawmakers in his country that dictator Kim is estimated to have up to 60 nuclear weapons, shedding light on the regime’s secret program.

Nauert said last week that Pompeo made plans to travel to North Korea when he met with the Asian country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 26.

“Secretary Pompeo accepted Chairman Kim’s invitation to travel to Pyongyang next month to make further progress on the implementation of the commitments from the US-DPRK Singapore summit, including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, and to prepare for a second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim,” the spokeswoman noted in a statement.

In June, President Trump held an unprecedented meeting with Kim.

Alluding to a second U.S.-North Korea summit that day, President Trump Trump said the meeting would happen “fairly quickly.”

Kim “wants to see things happen for North Korea that are great,” Trump told reporters.

“They really have the potential” to be an economic power, he also said, adding, “A lot of good things are happening.”</s>WASHINGTON — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The move is a largely symbolic gesture that highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran “groundlessly” bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the treaty.

Officials said the administration also will withdraw from an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. A White House announcement was expected, and the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t publicly authorized to discuss the development.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the termination of the treaty shortly after what he called the “meritless” court ruling.

“The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago,” he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: “There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran.”

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran’s Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a “useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity” of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

“The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ,” he said.

At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

“We’re disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States.”

The ruling said Washington must “remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from” the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo “are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns” raised by Iran.

The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was “another failure for sanctions-addicted” U.S. and a “victory for rule of law.” He said it was imperative for other countries ‘to collectively counter malign US unilateralism” and he accused the U.S. of being an “outlaw regime.”

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.

Associated Press writers Susannah George, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.</s>Washington: In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The move is a largely symbolic gesture that highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.

"The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us," Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the "so-called state of Palestine" challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.

Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over "politicized cases." He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.

Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as "meritless" and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.

"The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago," he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: "There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran."

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran's Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a "useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity" of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

"The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ," he said.

 At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

"We're disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States."

The ruling said Washington must "remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from" the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo "are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns" raised by Iran.

 The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was "another failure for sanctions-addicted" U.S. and a "victory for rule of law." He said it was imperative for other countries 'to collectively counter malign US unilateralism" and he accused the U.S. of being an "outlaw regime."

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.</s>WASHINGTON — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The move is a largely symbolic gesture that highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.

"The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us," Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the "so-called state of Palestine" challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.

Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over "politicized cases." He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.

Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as "meritless" and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.

"The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago," he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: "There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran."

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran's Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a "useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity" of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

"The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ," he said.

At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

"We're disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States."

The ruling said Washington must "remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from" the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo "are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns" raised by Iran.

The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was "another failure for sanctions-addicted" U.S. and a "victory for rule of law." He said it was imperative for other countries 'to collectively counter malign US unilateralism" and he accused the U.S. of being an "outlaw regime."

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.

Associated Press writers Susannah George, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will pay a fresh visit to North Korea on Sunday and meet leader Kim Jong Un to push forward denuclearization efforts, the State Department said.

Pompeo, who is trying to arrange a new summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, will also head to U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, as well as North Korea's chief ally China, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

It will be the fourth trip by Pompeo to the longtime U.S. pariah amid American hopes of reaching an agreement to end North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

"I think it shows momentum that he is paying his fourth trip," Nauert told reporters.

"Everybody recognizes that there is a ways to go," she said, but added: "We feel confident enough to hop on a plane to continue these negotiations."

The top U.S. diplomat had announced last week that he was ready to return to North Korea after meeting the hardline communist state's foreign minister on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Pompeo will open his trip on Saturday in Tokyo, where he will meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has long championed a hard line on North Korea but recently said he was willing to meet Kim.

After the trip to Pyongyang, Pompeo will head later Sunday to Seoul, where he will meet President Moon Jae-in, a dove who has helped spearhead the reconciliation efforts with North Korea.

Nauert said Pompeo would head afterward to Beijing for meetings with unspecified officials.

Kim, who as leader has rarely traveled outside of North Korea, met in June in Singapore with Trump in the first-ever summit between the two countries that have never signed a peace treaty to formally end their 1950-53 war.

On Saturday, Trump lavished praise on Kim -- considered by human rights groups to be one of the world's most repressive leaders -- and said they had fallen "in love" after the exchange of letters.

Trump paints rapprochement with North Korea as a signature foreign policy achievement, although critics question whether Pyongyang has taken any firm action.

The United States has nonetheless insisted on maintaining tight UN sanctions against North Korea during the diplomatic drive, while Beijing has said it is time to start easing sanctions.</s>US terminates 1955 treaty with Iran after UN court ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic gesture highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.

"The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us," Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the "so-called state of Palestine" challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.

Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over "politicized cases." He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.

Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as "meritless" and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.

"The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago," he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: "There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran."

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran's Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a "useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity" of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

"The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ," he said.

At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

"We're disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States."

The ruling said Washington must "remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from" the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo "are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns" raised by Iran.

The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was "another failure for sanctions-addicted" U.S. and a "victory for rule of law." He said it was imperative for other countries 'to collectively counter malign US unilateralism" and he accused the U.S. of being an "outlaw regime."

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.

Associated Press writers Susannah George in Washington and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON — 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."

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that the United States is terminating the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran.