Australian experts: Israeli and U.S. aggression violates international law

Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and an international law expert at the University of Sydney, told ABC News Australia that the answer to whether the Israeli and U.S. aggression against Iran was legal under international law is clear.

He told ABC: “Both Israel’s and the United States’ attacks on Iran were clearly against international law.”

Saul emphasized: “Iran had not attacked either of them — with or without nuclear weapons — it didn’t possess nuclear weapons and was not threatening an imminent attack. Despite this, the Israeli regime claimed its assault was an act of self-defense in response to a threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. When the U.S. joined the assault, it echoed the same justification. According to international law, codified in the UN Charter of 1945, a party may only defend itself in response to an actual or imminent armed attack by another state.”

Donald Rothwell, an international law expert at the Australian National University, added that an imminent threat would require Iran to possess nuclear weapons and to have intent to use them.

Rothwell stated: “There appears to be no credible legal basis for Israel’s claim of a right to anticipatory self-defense.”

This also undermines the U.S. justification that its assistance to Israel constituted collective self-defense, he added.

Saul also noted that during the 12-day offensive, Israel may have violated international humanitarian law by causing indiscriminate or disproportionate damage to civilian residential areas. He added that the Iranian nuclear scientists assassinated by the Israeli regime were civilians not directly involved in the conflict.

When a party violates the UN Charter, the matter should be referred to the UN Security Council. However, Rothwell noted that no such action has been taken, and the U.S. can veto any resolution brought before the Council.

He concluded: “Therefore, there’s no real prospect for political accountability at the highest level within the United Nations.”