The U.S. Extra-territorial Sanctions against Iran and its Compatibility with the World Trade Organization rules

The U.S. has imposed extra-territorial sanctions against Iran and thereby impeded free trade for WTO members. In this article we examined U.S. extra-territorial sanctions against Iran following the United States' unilateral withdrawal from JCPOA and its possible violations of its WTO obligations. Also, while examining the nature of extra-territorial sanctions, we examined the GATT exception rules, in particular national security, by examining the Russia- Ukraine Transit case of 2019. The study found that, given the scope of the sanctions imposed, the U.S. government has violated some of its obligations under the WTO, and in view of the WTO panel interpretation of the defense of national security, the justification for extra-territorial sanctions subsequently imposed after withdrawal from the JCPOA is not acceptable and there are some legal solutions under WTO which enable the states to challenge the U.S. Unilateralism.