Iran today demanded that the UN's top court order the United States to suspend nuclear-linked sanctions against Tehran, but Washington vowed to "vigorously" fend off the legal challenge.
The Islamic Republic launched a suit at the International Court of Justice over US President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in a landmark 2015 accord.
Trump says the sanctions are needed to ensure Iran never builds a nuclear bomb. But Iran's representative Mohsen Mohebi branded them "naked economic aggression".
His team of lawyers told the court in The Hague that the measures were already devastating Iran's economy and threatening the welfare of its citizens.
"The United States is publicly propagating a policy intended to damage as severely as possible Iran's economy and Iranian nationals and companies," Mohebi said.
"Iran will put up the strongest resistance to the US economic strangulation, by all peaceful means."
Trump, who took office in 2016, called it a "horrible one-sided deal". He said it "failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to a Iranian nuclear bomb."
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