Iran Press- Iran news: According the Straits Times, Monday's hearing of US objections against Iran's appeal comes a week after the ICJ, in a separate case, ordered the US to ease sanctions reimposed after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Both the assets and the sanctions cases are based on a 1955 "Treaty of Amity" between Washington and Teheran.
Court hearings started with "Preliminary Objections" by the US, which seeks to argue that the ICJ does not have the jurisdiction to take up the case.
Iran filed a complaint with the ICJ — the principal judicial organ of the United Nations — on June 14, 2016 over the freezing of billions of dollars in its assets either inside or outside of America under US court rulings.
The latest instance of such rulings occurred on April 20, 2016, when the US Supreme Court upheld an earlier verdict by a lower district court to turn over approximately 1.75 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets to victims of "terrorism."
The Iranian complaint invoked the "Treaty of Amity," signed between Iran and America in 1955. According to the complaint, Iranian assets had, under the treaty, been held "in a custodial 'omnibus account' with Citibank N. A. in New York by the Luxembourg-based international central securities depository Clearstream Banking S.A. to the ultimate benefit of Bank Markazi" or Iran's Central Bank.
The 15-member jury of the ICJ — also known as the World Court — will hear Iran's oral arguments on Wednesday.
A second round of hearings for Iran and the US is scheduled for October 11 and 12.
Last Wednesday, the International Court of Justice ordered the United States to lift sanctions on Iran that affect imports of humanitarian goods and products and services linked to the safety of civil aviation.
Related news:
Top UN court orders US to lift Iran sanctions
May 8 was when the US unilaterally withdrew from a multilateral deal with Iran and imposed previous as well as new sanctions on the country.
Humiliated after that defeat at the World Court, and in a knee-jerk reaction, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would be scrapping the 1955 treaty.
National Security Adviser John Bolton also said the US would no more be recognizing the jurisdiction of the UN court and would be withdrawing from the Optional Protocol and Dispute Resolution of the 1961 Vienna Convention, which established the ICJ.
Despite the assertions by Pompeo and Bolton, America has sent a legal team to the ICJ for the new hearings.
According to the Associated Press, US lawyer Richard Visek said at the Monday hearing "that US objections to the court's jurisdiction and admissibility 'provide a clear basis for ruling that this case should not proceed to the merits.'"
On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Tehran and the world powers in 2015.
Washington has since told countries they must stop buying the OPEC producer's oil from November 4 or face financial consequences.
Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
Donald Trump’s decision to scrap the nuclear deal was sharply criticised by other signatories of the deal, who have pledged to uphold their side of the agreement.
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