[UPDATED] Israel-Iran war: Let us all remember the United Nations Charter and international law
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BACKGROUND
See,
1) Amanda Taub, “Are Israel’s Airstrikes on Iran Within Legal Bounds? International law experts are divided.New York Times, June 20, 2025.
Important critical note on Amands Taub’s article.
Amanda Taub has done an excellent job summarizing the main arguments regarding the legality of Israeli air strikes against Iran, with one glaring exception: She asserts international experts are divided over the legality of the air strikes, and then goes on to list the specious arguments advanced by two Israeli legal experts, without citing the counter-arguments of leading international law experts on the use of force.
She deserves an “A” for raising these important international law arguments, and for summarizing many of them well.
She deserves an “F” for leaving the impression with readers that international lawyers disagree on the legality of Israel’s attacks on Iran, citing only two Israel experts in support of her assertion. The arguments they advance are utter garbage, which honest expert critiques of them would have revealed.
One rule of thumb should always be followed: Never ask for legal opinions from legal experts who are citizens of or working for institutions of one of the parties to a conflict in which that party’s actions are being judged.
Having failed this test, Taub’s conclusions must be viewed as simply pro-Israeli propaganda.
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Nothing demonstrates more clearly the incompetence of President Donald Trump than his failure ti prevent Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel from launching a war of aggression against Iran.
It is time that we all remember international law, for international law is one of the strongest tools we have which might be used to hold us back from the abyss.
The abyss of international anarchy in a world of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
The abyss of nuclear war.
The abyss of climate change in a world of international institutions that have been paralyzed or simply ignored.
A world where the international law and institutions that govern international trade have been wrecked and destroyed by a lawless superpower led by ignorant and incompetent people.
The United Nations Charter is the framework upon which the international legal order we have today has been built. Hundreds of thousands of government officials, including presidents, foreign ministers, international lawyers, and experts in every field of endeavor have constructed over the last 80 years the international institutions and law which currently organize and regulate the activities of some 200 nations and eight billion people on the planet.
The international law and institutions they have built represent a stupendous achievement by mankind as a whole.
The cornerstone of this U.N. Charter-based international legal order is the prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. The prohibition is enshrined in Article 2 Paragraph 4 of the United Nations Charter.
That is the bedrock principle which Russia has violated since its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
That is the bedrock principle of the United Nations Charter and international kaw which Israel has been violating since it launched its war against Iran a few days ago.
To be sure, the Charter authorizes the use of armed force in self-defense under Article 51 “when an armed attack occurs” (as “armed attack” is defined in international law). The exercise of the right is, however, subject to the twin requirements of necessity and proportionality (as defined by international law)). Neither of these requirements has been satisfied in the current conflict. Nor has an “armed attack” within the meaning of Article 51 occurred.
Moreover, it is abundantly clear in international law that the preventive use of force is prohibited. Israel’s war against Iran is justified as preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Such a justification is not permissible under international law. Israel itself has numerous nuclear weapons. Iran is a party the 1967 Non-Proliferation Treaty which prohibits the development of nuclear weapons. Under its terms, however, Iran may withdraw from the treaty on one year’s notice.
It is time to remember that the U.N. Charter and international law are the last safeguards—and tools if we use them—to avoid careening into the abyss.
Israel should be condemned for attacking Iran.
President Trump should be condemned for failing to prevent Israel from launching a war against Iran.
All countries involved should seek to end the war using methods and means permitted by international law. Israel may be stopped by the imposition of economic sanctions by European and other countries. In addition to the possibility of economic sanctions, the United States can stop Israel by cutting off military and economic aid.
Iran can be induced to stop its counterattacks against Israel through a ceasefire agreement. Diplomacy and negotiations may be resumed to greatly delay Iran’s development of nuclear capabilities as was achieved through the JCPOA in 2015, which Trump withdrew from in 2018.
According to news reports the U.S. and Iran were in advanced negotiations for a new nuclear agreement which was very similar to the JCPOA. Then, in the last few weeks or months, hardliners in the Trump administration managed to change the U.S. position, demanding Iran give up all uranium enrichment.
This was a position Iran could not accept, as enrichment is a fundamental right of Iran under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
International law clearly prohibits the threat of the use of force as well as its use. Any thought by Trump or anyone else that threatening to bomb Iran in order to bring them back to the conference table is a good idea, should understand that any such threats would violate Article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter.
Finally, by assisting Israel in its attacks on Iran, if it has, the U.S. is complicit in those attacks. Whether shooting down missiles aimed at Israel and launched in self-defense by Iran is in itself complicity in the Israeli war against Iran is a more difficult question.
It is time for everyone to remember the United Nations Charter and international law, and to use them to find a way out of the extremely dangerous situation in which the parties, and the world, currently find themselves.
In short, the Israeli attacks on Iran violate the bedrock prohibition in the U.N. Charter of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state
“Anticipatory self-defense” is simply not permitted under the U.N. Charter and international law.
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in anumber of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
James P. Rowles, The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon, and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
James P. Rowles, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon,and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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