Review of the Case concerning Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America)

Abstract

This paper reviews the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Case concerning Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. the United States of America). The case arose from the United States of America’s reprisal attacks on Iranian offshore oil facilities, following attacks on US protected vessels and warships. In this case, the ICJ considered international law principles on force, self-defence and award of reparation. This paper examines how ICJ utilised the opportunity to develop international law on these subject areas. This paper finds that the ICJ did not advance international law beyond existing knowledge on the subject matter under consideration based on doctrinal research methodology. The ICJ's shortcoming in this regard is that the question regarding the extent to which self-defense can be applied was left unanswered; the ICJ also failed to award reparation despite its finding of US unlawful use of force. This paper, therefore, called for a proactive ICJ in expanding the frontiers of international law.