U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton announced Wednesday in a statement at a White House briefing that the United States plans to withdraw from the optional protocol and dispute resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The decision was made, Bolton explained, in order to remove the venue in which the “so-called state of Palestine” — which Bolton underscored is not a state — is attempting to sue America for its sovereign decision to move its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Following is the full text of Bolton’s statement to the White House press corps.
“Earlier today U.S. Secy of State Mike Pompeo made a very important announcement regarding the president’s decision to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran – a treaty Iran made a mockery of with its support for terrorism, provocative ballistic missile proliferation, and malign behavior throughout the Middle East.
Today’s decision by the International Court of Justice was a defeat for Iran. It correctly rejected nearly all of Iran’s requests, but we are disappointed that the ICJ failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order with respect to sanctions that the United States imposes to protect its own essential security under the treaty.
Instead, the Court allowed Iran to use it as a forum for propaganda.
The Iranian regime has systematically pursued a policy of hostility toward the United States that defames the central premise of the Treaty of Amity.
The regime cannot practice animosity in its conduct and then ask for amity under international law.
In addition to the Treaty of Amity, I am announcing that the President has decided that the United States will withdraw from the optional protocol and dispute resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
This is in connection with a case brought by the so-called “State of Palestine” naming the United States as a defendant, challenging our move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
I’d like to stress the United States remains a party to the underlying Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and we expect all other parties to abide by their international obligations under the Convention.
Our actions today are consistent with the decisions President Reagan made in the 1980s in the wake of the politicized suits against the United States by Nicaragua, to terminate our acceptance of the optional compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under Article 36-2 of the ICJ Statute, and his decision to withdraw from the bilateral treaty with Nicaragua.
It is also consistent with the decision President Bush made in 2005 to withdraw from the optional protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations following the ICJ’s interference in our domestic criminal justice system.
So, our actions today deal with the treaties and current litigation involving the United States before the International Court of Justice. Given this history, and Iran’s abuse of the ICJ, we will commence a review of all international agreements that may still expose the United States to purported binding dispute resolution in the International Court of Justice.
The United States will not sit idly while these baseless politicized claims are brought against us.”