US terminates 1955 treaty with Iran!

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue.

In response to a UN court order that the US lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said on Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The move is a largely symbolic gesture that highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging US sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the treaty.

The Iranians have ignored the treaty "for an awfully long time", Pompeo told reporters. "We ought to have pulled out of it decades ago."