Lessons Learned from the Central Bank's Position in the Case of Certain Iranian Assets for Application in the Case of Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, Institution for Research and Development in the Humanities (SAMT), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Having rendered the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the case of Certain Iranian Assets on 30 March 2023, and finding a violation of obligations arising from the 1955 Treaty of Amity between Iran and the US in the context of the US’s unreasonable and discriminatory treatment of the assets of Iranian companies and the violation of freedom of trade between the two countries, hopes have been strengthened for the finding of similar violations in another case between Iran and the US entitled Alleged Violations of the Treaty of Amity. It seems that the legislative and judicial actions of the US, which have effectively eliminated the possibility of conducting any trade between the two countries through the imposition of strict regulations such as Executive Order 13599 from 2012 onwards, will ultimately lead to a similar conclusion in the Alleged Violations case by the Court. It also appears that the framework of Iran’s claims in this case, together with the Court’s temporal jurisdiction to consider Iran’s claims even after the US withdrew from the Treaty of Amity in October 2019, provides the necessary basis for assessing the United States’ sanctions measures until the conclusion of the proceedings in this case.

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