Iran has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to lift the sanctions imposed by the US after it abandoned the deal on Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iranian lawyer Mohsen Mohebi said the US aimed to damage Iran's economy “as severely as possible” and had violated a little-known 1955 friendship treaty.
The US is expected to argue that the sanctions do not breach the treaty.
Iran's economy has slumped since US President Donald Trump ordered that the sanctions be reinstated in May.
The Iranian currency, the rial, has lost half its value against the dollar, the monthly inflation rate has risen to 10.2%, and unemployment stands at 12.5%.
On Sunday, Iran's parliament voted to dismiss Finance Minister Masoud Karbasian over his failure to address the country's economic woes.
Why did the US abandon the nuclear deal?
The 2015 accord between six world powers and Iran saw the Islamic Republic limit its controversial nuclear activities in return for relief from international sanctions.
But Mr Trump said the deal “failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb” and did not deal with Tehran's “malign activities, including its ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorism”.
