Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2018 | Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images UN court orders US to lift sanctions on Iran tied to humanitarian efforts International Court of Justice rules sanctions violate 1955 treaty.

The United Nations' highest court ordered the United States on Wednesday not to tamper with humanitarian and aid efforts in Iran with its sanctions, which are scheduled to increase dramatically next month, Reuters reported.

The International Court of Justice, which has in the past been ignored by both the United States and Iran, ruled in favor of the Islamic Republic, which argued President Donald Trump's sanctions on Iran violated the two countries' Treaty of Amity signed in 1955. The treaty was signed when Iran was still a monarchy and ally of the United States.

The ruling comes amid the Trump administration's continued push to impose stiff sanctions on Iran after pulling out of a landmark nuclear agreement in May. That deal, negotiated in part by the administration of former President Barack Obama, sought to block Iran's path to obtaining a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Iran, which has remained party to the deal along with its other signatories, responded to the U.S. withdrawal and reimposition of U.S. sanctions by filing a case with the ICJ this summer. Initial sanctions against Iran were reimposed over the summer with additional sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry, a key economic driver in the Islamic Republic, scheduled to be reimposed next month.

The ICJ ruling would not only bar the U.S. from future sanctions that could impact humanitarian efforts but would also require the lifting of any current sanctions found to hinder those efforts as well. The court ruled the U.S. can determine how it removes sanctions.

U.S. sanctions do not target food and medical supplies going into the country, but the court argued that they still drastically hinder financial transactions required for importing those goods into Iran.

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