Are Strikes On Iran The US' Next Illegal War?

It isn바카라�t just ironic that the United States has started bombing nuclear sites in Iran after it walked out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) unilaterally in 2018. It is legally and diplomatically problematic, and widely recognised as such by scholars and diplomats.

After all, Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA at the time the United States exited the arrangement. Then, after reimposing sanctions against Iran, it began demanding that Iran return to compliance and pursued a 바카라�maximum pressure바카라� campaign against it.

The same playbook is still being used by the United States, as it calls for diplomacy from Iran while attacking it militarily, both directly and through support for its close ally, Israel.

What this means is not just a moral failure, or refusal to apply the same standards, no matter who the party to a conflict is. It will be seen as violation of international law.

The United Nations Charter, in articles 2(4) and 51, prohibits the use of force except in self-defence or with authorisation from the UN Security Council.

Article 2(4) is a cornerstone principle of international law, wherein the use of force, or even threat of force, against the territory of any country, or its political independence, is prohibited.

The threshold when invoking self-defence, as explained in Article 51, against any country is that an 바카라�armed attack바카라� must have taken place. Both these are clearly not the case, as it is Israel바카라�followed now by the United States바카라�which have attacked Iran, while Iran has retaliated against Israel.

Under the United Nations Charter, even if self-defence is claimed, it must meet the test of proportionality and necessity to the harm caused바카라�criteria unmet in this case. When Iran has consistently denied developing nuclear weapons, the attacks without sufficient proof will be impossible for Israel and the United States to defend.

The preventive or pre-emptive strikes, as are often claimed by Israel against its neighbours, also remain legally controversial under international law.

The jus ad bellum rules dictate that retaliation by Israel or the United States must comply with norms even if they believe Iran supports so-called non-state actors, such as the Hezbollah or the Houthis. The same would apply to Iran in case of attacks in Syria or elsewhere.

Supposedly, there are also domestic constraints that ought to limit the United States바카라� ability to take military action against any country, including Iran. However, the required congressional approval for such actions has been sidestepped by past American administrations바카라�a charge that freshly renewed this week.

What is more, Iran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear power as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The United States바카라� exit from JCPOA, formulated in 2015 during the Barack Obama administration, revived the toughest sanctions against Iran while putting a spanner in the desire of western powers to limit Iran's nuclear programme. Thereafter, Iran has refused to comply with fresh, changed demands of the United States, which is seen as coercive action on part of the United States.

The questions facing the United States after striking Iran are familiar: does Iran possess weapons of mass destruction? Was it preparing to use them? Is there any credible evidence? The questions itself will remind the world of the United States바카라� misadventures in Iraq, which were justified to a domestic audience on the claim that it possessed chemical and nuclear weaponry that threatened the world.  

What is more, the bar against one country attacking another militarily isn바카라�t new, nor did it emerge with the United Nations. Over a century ago in 1919, the Covenant of the League of Nations enjoined members to respect the territorial integrity of all members against external aggression.

Disputes between nations were to be arbitrated, or judicially settled, or sent to the League Council, and strict time limits were imposed on going to war before a settlement was arrived at, or deemed failed or impossible.

The League of Nations put forward the collective security principle, which the UN Security Council also embodies, but unlike the UNSC, the League could never enforce it, nor prevent war. The UN Charter was a much stronger system, especially Article 2(4) and Article 51, which form the jus ad bellum framework.

At present, however, the UNSC framework is caught up in veto power deadlocks, under which the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and China can block ceasefire, sanction, investigation and force authorisation.

Besides, the UNSC has acted strongly and forcefully in some cases바카라�Iraq in 1990, for instance, but not in Rwanda in 1994, and certainly not in Gaza in 2023바카라�inviting the charge of double standards. That has whittled down the legitimacy of international norms enforced by the Security Council. Further, the Security Council is often paralysed when crises involve allies of the P5 (the five permanent members mentioned earlier), as in the Syrian civil war, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Ukraine conflict, each vetoed by Russia, the United States and Russia, respectively.