The ruling by the ICJ relates to a complaint filed by Tehran in June 2016 for the confiscation of two billion dollars of the property of the central bank of Iran (CBI).
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York, acting on information provided by the Treasury Department, ordered Citibank to freeze the money in June 2008.
Judges at the Hague-based tribunal dismissed Washington’s allegations the case should be thrown out, and that the court did not have jurisdiction in the lawsuit.
Last October, Iran won a legal victory when the ICJ ruled that the US must lift sanctions against Tehran targeting humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.