The ICJ rules on disputes between UN member states. Its decisions are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no mechanism to enforce them.
Ahead of the decision, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the sanctions were a form of “psychological warfare” aimed at regime change.
“The economic warfare that the US and some of its regional clients are conducting against Iran is psychological warfare more than real economic warfare,” Zarif told BBC radio.
During four days of hearings in late August, Iran’s lawyers accused Washington of “strangling” its economy.
Washington, however, forcefully told the court that it had no jurisdiction to rule on this case as it concerned a matter of national security.
Wednesday’s ruling was in fact a decision on so-called provisional measures ahead of a final decision on the matter, which may take several more years, experts said.
Trump’s America First policy largely rejects overarching international organisations. He recently heavily criticised the separate International Criminal Court in The Hague over a probe into alleged US abuses in Afghanistan.