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."
"IRAN IS ORIGIN OF THREAT TO U.S. MISSIONS IN IRAQ"
"Iran is the origin of the current threat to Americans in Iraq," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department. "Our intelligence in this regard is solid. We can see the hand of the ayatollah and his henchmen supporting these attacks on the United States."
The United States announced on Friday it will effectively close its consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra and relocate diplomatic personnel assigned there following increasing threats from Iran and Iran-backed militia, including rocket fire.
The decision added to mounting tension between the United States and Iran, which is the target of increasing U.S. economic sanctions.
On Wednesday, the World Court ordered the United States 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 handed a victory to Tehran, which had argued that sanctions imposed since May by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump violate the terms of a 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two countries.
