(JNS) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the United States will terminate a 1955 treaty of amity that regulates commerce and consular activities between America and Iran.

This development comes in response to the International Court of Justice ruling that the United States must lift humanitarian-related sanctions against the regime.

Pompeo labeled the ruling as “meritless.” “This is a decision frankly that is 39 years overdue,” he told reporters. “Iran has attempted to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions as necessary to protect our national security, and Iran is abusing the ICJ for political and propaganda purposes.”

Nonetheless, Pompeo remarked that the United States will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the Iranian people, which he said is being abused by the Islamic Republic.