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News > World

US Withdraws From International Accords After Iran, Palestine Cases

  • U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton tells a reporter how he refers to Palestine during a White House press briefing in Washington, U.S., Oct. 3, 2018.

    U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton tells a reporter how he refers to Palestine during a White House press briefing in Washington, U.S., Oct. 3, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 4 October 2018
Opinion

This withdrawal by the U.S. is considered largely symbolic as the country has previously ignored ICJ rulings whose jurisdiction has not been recognized by the U.S. since 1986.

The United States withdrew from two international accords Wednesday after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the country's government to ease sanctions against Iran. The international accords allowed Iran and Palestine to pursue legal action against the U.S.

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On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Donald Trump-led administration made a decision to withdraw from the 1955 United States-Iran Friendship Treaty. The treaty, often ignored by the U.S. completely, served as the foundation of the latest ruling by the ICJ.

Soon after the announcement, National Security Advisor John Bolton said that the country will also drop out of an optional part of 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which allows countries to settle disputes with each other in the ICJ. Last month, Palestinians used the the ICJ to sue the U.S. over Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This move came in accordance with the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which Palestinians consider their holy city and a part of their future state.

“The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us,” Bolton said at the White House. Following the decision to leave the 1955 friendship treaty with Iran, Pompeo said: “This is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Wednesday’s moves by calling the U.S. an “outlaw regime.” The U.S. frequently uses the same phrase in reference to Iran.

The Trump administration has been against international institutions which ‘constrain U.S. sovereignty,' and National Security Adviser John Bolton has been a driving force against these institutions. Last month he threatened the International Criminal Court and its judges with sanctions if it “comes after us, Israel or other U.S. allies.”

At the White House briefing Wednesday, Bolton also said that the administration would review all international agreements that can be used against the U.S. in the International Court of Justice.

During the 73rd UNGA sessions, the U.S. president also opposed globalism and upheld the country’s sovereignty.

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