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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2019/34
30 August 2019
Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) Fixing of time-limit for the filing by the Islamic Republic of Iran of a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the United States of America
THE HAGUE, 30 August 2019. By an Order dated 26 August 2019, the President of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has fixed the time-limit within which Iran may present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the United States of America in the case concerning Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America).
In his Order, the President recalls that, on 10 October 2018, the Court fixed 10 April 2019 and 10 October 2019 as the respective time-limits for the filing of a Memorial by Iran and a Counter-Memorial by the United States.
The President also recalls that, by an Order dated 8 April 2019, he extended to 24 May 2019 and 10 January 2020 the respective time-limits for the filing of the Memorial and the Counter-Memorial, and that the Memorial of Iran was duly filed within the time-limit thus extended.
The Order further observes that, on 23 August 2019, the United States raised preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and to the admissibility of the Application and that, in accordance with Article 79, paragraph 5, of the Rules of Court, the proceedings on the merits have therefore been suspended.
Pursuant to that same provision, the President has, by his Order, fixed 23 December 2019 as the time-limit within which Iran may present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the United States.
It is explained in the Order that the time-limit has been fixed taking account of Practice Direction V in particular, according to which the time-limit for the presentation of such a written statement should generally not exceed four months from the date of the filing of preliminary objections.
The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision.
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History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings may be found in the Annual Report of the Court for 2017-2018 (paras. 263-271) and in press releases Nos. 2018/43 of 30 August 2018, 2018/50 of 3 October 2018, 2018/53 of 16 October 2018 and 2019/16 of 15 April 2019, available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org).
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The full text of the Order is also available on the Court’s website.
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Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents.
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Information Department:
Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
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Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)
Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) - Fixing of time-limit for the filing by the Islamic Republic of Iran of a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the United States of America