THE HAGUE: Iran urged the UN's top court on Wednesday to hear its bid to overturn US nuclear sanctions, saying they were destroying the Iranian economy and "ruining millions of lives".

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is hearing arguments this week from Tehran and Washington before deciding whether it has jurisdiction to deal with the case.

Iran dragged the United States to the ICJ in 2018 when President Donald Trump pulled the US out of a landmark deal limiting Iran's nuclear programme and reimposed sanctions.

Tehran's representative Hamidreza Oloumiyazdi told the court by videolink that the sanctions were a "clear breach" of a 1955 "Treaty of Amity" between Iran and the United States. "The US measures and the underlying policy of maximum pressure disregard the very foundation of international law," Oloumiyazdi said.