Tehran, Apr 5 (IANS): Iran has said the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the US freezing of Iran's assets was a "historic defeat" for Washington.

The ICJ ruling confirmed Iran's legitimacy on the issue, semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi as saying at a weekly press conference on Tuesday.

On March 30, the ICJ ruled that the US had "illegally allowed its courts to freeze Iranian companies' assets" and ordered Washington to pay compensation to Iran, the amount of which will be determined later, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the press conference on Tuesday, Jahromi also accused the US of being accustomed to violating international laws.

In 2016, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Iranian assets of close to $two billion frozen in the US must be paid to American families of the victims of the bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 as well as other attacks blamed on Iran.

Tehran has repeatedly and vigorously rejected all claims about its involvement in the Beirut bombing and other similar allegations.

The case before the ICJ was initially brought by Tehran in 2016 against the US breach of a 1955 friendship treaty by allowing its courts to freeze Iranian companies' assets.

Washington pulled out of the treaty in 2018. However, the ICJ ruled that the accord was in place at the time of the Iranian assets' freezing.