Does international law still matter? The strike on the girls’ school in Iran shows why we need it

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A man holds a children’s backpack as rescue workers and residents search through the rubble of a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, on February 28. Mehr News Agency/AP

Shannon Bosch, Edith Cowan University

As the US and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, reports emerged from Iran that a strike hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab.

The school was reportedly packed with young pupils at the time. Iranian authorities say more than 150 people were killed, including children, and 60 more injured (these figures are yet to be independently verified).

Videos verified by international media show rescue workers digging through collapsed concrete, school bags being pulled from the debris, and scorch marks along the remaining walls.


Warning: this gallery contains graphic images.

https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1361/adbf39d3504e3436d439f9d4ab05cc3e394b012d/site/index.html


The New York Times says it has verified videos that show the school next to a naval base belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, and a strike hitting that base.

Iranian representatives at the United Nations have characterised the strike as a deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and labelled it a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Neither the United States nor Israel have publicly confirmed hitting the school. The US military’s Central Command (Centcom) said:

We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them. The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm.

At present, we do not have enough verified facts to reach a firm legal conclusion about what happened.

But given the questions about the legality of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran – and deeper questions about whether we’re witnessing the “death of international law” more broadly – incidents like this illustrate the continuing importance of the law, especially in times of conflict.

Which targets are protected under the law?

In armed conflict, international humanitarian law applies. International humanitarian law is built on foundational principles that must inform all decisions by armed forces concerning what they target:

  • distinction
  • proportionality
  • military necessity

And precautions must be taken to avoid incidental harm to civilians.

So what do these terms mean?

The principle of distinction requires parties to an armed conflict to always distinguish between civilian objects and military objects.

Attacks may only be directed against combatants and military objects. Civilians and civilian objects, such as schools, hospitals and public transport, are protected and may not be directly targeted.

If there is any doubt about whether a target is military or civilian in nature, it must be presumed to be civilian.

Schools are not merely buildings. They are protective spaces, and their destruction can cause immediate loss of life and long-term societal damage.

Children under 18 also enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law. They, too, may not be directly targeted.

This protection is not absolute, however. Any civilian object (including schools) can lose their protected status if they become military objectives. A school used as a military base, artillery position or command post could meet that definition.

So far, we have no evidence the school in Minab was being used for military purposes or that it was intentionally targeted.

Proportionality and precautions in attacks

What, then, if the school was not intentionally targeted, but was incidental collateral damage from an attack directed at the IRGC barracks nearby?

International humanitarian law recognises civilian objects may be affected by attacks on military objectives.

Incidental harm to civilians and civilian objects is only lawful if it satisfies the test of proportionality and military necessity under the law. All feasible precautions must also have been taken to minimise harm to civilians.

So, if a school near a military target is hit, the legality of that strike turns on whether the expected harm to children and the school was excessive compared to the military advantage gained by striking the target.

Also important: did the military commanders take all feasible precautions to assess the effect of the attack on nearby civilians or civilian infrastructure? This includes the specific weapons that are used and the timing of the attack.

Why international law matters

In recent years, we have witnessed a number of countries and their leaders openly flouting international law and the rules-based order. Yet, it would be a profound mistake to conclude that international law has ceased to matter. Even grave breaches do not negate the system itself.

As renowned American international law scholar Louis Henkin famously wrote in 1979:

Almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time.

Henkin’s point was not naïve optimism. Daily compliance of international law remains the norm in diplomacy, trade, aviation, maritime navigation, treaty compliance and peaceful dispute settlement.

Violations do occur – sometimes brazenly – but they are exceptions to an overwhelmingly compliant pattern of behaviour.

The fact that some states breach foundational rules such as the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter does not render international law illusory.

Rather, it underscores the importance of naming breaches for what they are and defending the legal order that most states, most of the time, continue to respect.

If the strike on the Minab school is ultimately shown to have violated the principles of distinction, proportionality and military necessity, it would not prove Henkin wrong; it would prove his point.

International law matters precisely because departures from it can be identified, judged and condemned.

The rubble of a girls’ school is not evidence that the law is meaningless; it is a stark reminder of why the law exists, and why insisting on compliance remains essential.

Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
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Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
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Continue ReadingDoes international law still matter? The strike on the girls’ school in Iran shows why we need it

Morning Star Editorial: Imperial ambitions laid bare in US–Israel attack on Iran

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/imperial-ambitions-laid-bare-us-israel-attack-iran

 Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, March 2, 2026

THE attack on Iran by Israel and the US is a breach of international law so clear that the US “defence” secretary sees no reason to dress up his masters’ war as anything other than the exercise of imperial power.

Pete Hegseth has refused to rule out a ground invasion of the 94-million-strong Iranian nation, yet lashed out: “To the media outlets and the political left screaming ‘endless war,’ stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless.”

Hegseth, and the US joint chiefs of staff chairman General Dan Caine claimed that the attacks were designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapons system. Where this is a task more easily accomplished through negotiations the US/Israeli strategy is rather to target the Iranian leadership and its security forces.

It is clear that while the US is capable of mobilising powerful military assets to strike at Iran’s own military capacity and infrastructure — and the profits to be made in replenishing its hardware, missiles, drones and ammunition will profit US arms corporations — the immediate strategic interests being served are Israel’s.

The assassination of Iran’s leading cleric and state leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and not least the collateral death of dozens of primary schoolchildren, appears to have the effect of mobilising opinion in defence of Iran’s national sovereignty and there is nothing in the US/Israeli strategy that will convince the Arab street or opinion in the global South that the US can be trusted.

The parallel strategy to encourage regime opponents and dissident national groups to take to the streets in an ill-prepared “colour” revolution on the model that put neonazis into office in Ukraine (but largely failed in Georgia) seems unlikely to restore the Pahlavi royalist regime. More likely, it will expose any innocents who believe US promises and take to the streets, to renewed repression.

Disreputable though he is, and dangerous to boot, Hegseth’s frank espousal of imperial war aims unadorned by hypocritical words or faux-liberal sentiments is refreshing when compared to the weasel words of lapsed human rights lawyer Keir Starmer.

He seems aggravated that the Iranians responded to the Israeli/US assault by interdicting Israel and US military bases in the regime. He describes the Iranian response as reckless but not a word about the words and actions of Trump and Netanahayu.

He said: “Our decision that the UK would not be involved with the strikes on Iran was deliberate. Not least because we believe that the best way forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated settlement,” but says: “We have British jets in the air as part of co-ordinated defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted Iranian strikes” and the next day more fully commits British service personnel to join the US/Israeli military operation and allow British bases to be used.

The weasel words are: “…the collective self-defence of longstanding friends and allies, and protecting British lives.”

The friends and allies in the region are a collection of kleptomaniac “royal” families raised to rule by the British empire in the defence of oil profits. They are no friends of the British people but only of our ruling elite.

And now Trump says Starmer was too slow to change to back the US and Israeli assault, adding: “It took far too much time. Far too much time. That’s probably never happened between our countries before. It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”

Either Starmer is worried about the legality but went ahead or he doesn’t care.

It is clear that Trump holds Starmer in contempt. On this question alone he is at one with the British people.

Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/imperial-ambitions-laid-bare-us-israel-attack-iran. I am hoping that Morning Star will excuse me for fully republishing their article.

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Imperial ambitions laid bare in US–Israel attack on Iran

Israel Exploits Attack on Iran to Reinstate Gaza ‘Starvation Policy’

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Palestinians gather in the market following the targeting of Iran by the US and Israel and the subsequent retaliatory strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“All the NGOs in Gaza need more food, medicine, medical equipment, fuel, tents, personal care every day. We cannot wait,” said chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen.

After Israeli and US forces launched an illegal war aimed at forcing regime change in Iran this past weekend, Israel also announced “the closure of the crossings into the Gaza Strip,” which it has bombed and starved for nearly 29 months, killing at least tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT)—which oversees civilian policy in Gaza and the West Bank—announced on social media Saturday that “several necessary security adjustments have been implemented” because of the operation against Iran, including the closure of Gaza crossings “until further notice.”

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COGAT also claimed that “the closure of the crossings will have no impact on the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, adding that “the substantial quantities of food that have entered since the beginning of the ceasefire amount to four times the nutritional needs of the population,” so “the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period.”

However, reports from human rights groups, journalists, and the United Nations have highlighted how Israel’s restrictions have continued to impede evacuations of the sick and severely wounded, and nongovernmental groups’ deliveries of humanitarian aid, despite the October ceasefire deal. Palestinians in Gaza also remain at risk of Israeli forces’ airstrikes, gunfire, and shelling.

“A new chokehold on Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Monday. “Once again, Israel is renewing its ban on supplies entering Gaza. After more than two years of unspeakable suffering and a spreading man-made famine, people still lack the most basic supplies, despite increases in aid since the ceasefire. UNRWA personnel in Gaza keep providing healthcare, learning, and clean water—but we must be allowed to do much more and certainly not less.”

Even before Israel closed the borders on Saturday, the US-Israel attack on Iran led to Palestinians in Gaza “buying whatever food supplies and goods they could manage,” Al Jazeera reported Monday. “People everywhere rushed to the market to buy sugar, flour, cooking oil, and yeast. Shelves began to empty, and the price of essential goods increased.”

Things got even worse after COGAT’s announcement. Asmaa Abu Al-Khair, a 38-year-old mother of eight, told Al Jazeera at a Gaza City market on Sunday that “I feel great anxiety. Everyone is talking about it—about Iran’s strike and the closure of the crossings—and I cannot afford to buy what I need, while at the same time, I am afraid of famine returning. I have young children.”

Many displaced families living in nearby tents also “do not have the money to buy supplies, nor the space to store them inside the tents,” she said. “We endured so much hardship during the war, and it barely ended with the announcement of a ceasefire. So why close the crossing now? What do we have to do with what is happening? Is what we witnessed not enough? Why play with people’s nerves?”

Since Saturday, critics around the world have also warned about the impacts of Israel shutting off the Palestinian exclave indefinitely, again. Arab Center Washington DC fellow Assal Rad declared on social media that “under the cover of its illegal war on Iran, Israel is continuing genocide in Gaza.”

Mass shooting survivor and former congressional candidate Cameron Kasky similarly said that “the siege on Gaza returns in its fullest force. Illegal wars to advance Israel’s goals are being used for expanding the genocide plans.”

Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the US-backed war on Gaza that it launched after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also issued related arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Chef José Andrés said on social media Sunday that World Central Kitchen—which he founded—is cooking 1 million hot meals every day, and if Gaza’s borders stay closed, the group “will run out of food this week.”

“We need food deliveries every single day to feed hungry families who are not part of this war,” he said. “All the NGOs in Gaza need more food, medicine, medical equipment, fuel, tents, personal care every day. We cannot wait… let the humanitarian trucks go through today!”

Responding to Andrés, US Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said that “Israel must reopen access to aid groups. If not, Netanyahu must be arrested immediately. He continues war crimes.”

The Hague Group—a coalition of countries that came together last year, led by Colombia and South Africa, with the goal of upholding the ICC and ICJ rulings on Israel and Palestine—responded to COGAT by scheduling an emergency meeting that at least 30 nations are set to attend in the Dutch city for which the organization is named.

The focus of Wednesday’s meeting “is simple,” Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, the group’s executive secretary, said in a Monday statement. “How do we give international law teeth? Several states have begun enforcing their legal obligations, turning rhetoric into concrete action through The Hague Group’s measures: cutting arms flows, closing ports, and pursuing accountability.”

Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, said that “the application of international law can no longer be selective: punitive for some and totally disregarded by others. The Hague Group exists to translate obligations that arise out of international law into coordinated state action. We invite governments of conscience—those prepared to uphold law in deed as well as word—to join us.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur focused on the occupied Palestinian territories and a target of Trump administration sanctionssaid that “I am honored to attend the upcoming emergency meeting of the The Hague Group.”

“Time has come for decolonized multilateralism, grounded in universal rights and obligations, applied with integrity and free from double standards,” Albanese added. “May European and Arab states join this necessary effort.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
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Continue ReadingIsrael Exploits Attack on Iran to Reinstate Gaza ‘Starvation Policy’

Will Others Follow? Spain Denies Use of Its Bases to US Military for Iran Attacks

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez holds a press conference at the end of a special European Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on January 23, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Europe should close all of the US bases on its soil,” said one US foreign policy critic.

The Spanish government has blocked the US military from using its bases to launch attacks on Iran, forcing American aircraft to leave the country.

Speaking at the annual Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona on Sunday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denounced that US war on Iran, which was completely unprovoked.

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“Remember that one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime,” Sánchez said, “and at the same time be against a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous, and outside international law. That one should be against a war initiated without authorization from the US Congress or the UN Security Council.”

According to a Monday report in the Guardian, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized after Sánchez’s speech that Spanish military bases will not be used “for anything that is not in the agreement [with the US], nor for anything that isn’t covered by the UN charter.”

In the wake of the Spanish government’s announcement, anti-war campaigners demanded that other European nations take similar stances.

“Europe should close all of the US bases on its soil,” wrote David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. “There can be no ‘strategic autonomy’ while the United States maintains the ability to commit wanton violence from imperial installations on European territory.”

Alex Soros, chairman of Open Society Foundations, said that more nations should follow in Spain’s footsteps in trying to curb US aggression.

“Why aren’t more Europeans standing up to an illegal war!” Soros wrote. “Same with Canada! They make nice speeches at conferences, but do little. Spain is becoming the leader of the free world!”

Clare Daly, an Irish former member of European Parliament, encouraged her country to do its part to deny the US a base for airstrikes.

“Spain has denied the US military any use of its territory to carry out unlawful acts of aggression against Iran,” Daly wrote. “Yesterday [Human Rights Organization] Shannonwatch documented two US Air Force Hercules C-130H aircraft landing at Shannon Airport. Is the government going to do anything to uphold Ireland’s international responsibilities?”

Alan McLeod, senior staff writer at MintPress News, quipped that the Spanish government “continues to provide more resistance to Trump’s agenda than all Democrats combined.”

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Continue ReadingWill Others Follow? Spain Denies Use of Its Bases to US Military for Iran Attacks

US, Israel ‘Going Gaza on Iran’ as Death Toll Tops 500 Amid New Massacres

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Smoke is seen billowing skyward during US-Israeli bombing of Tehran, the Iranian capital, on March 1, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This is carpet-bombing, which has struck everything from playgrounds, to an emergency services HQ, schools, media buildings, and medical facilities,” said one observer.

US and Israeli forces were accused Monday of “seemingly indiscriminate” bombing of Iran as the country’s Red Crescent said that at least 555 people have been killed amid reports of fresh mass casualty attacks across the country.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed so far during three days of a US and Israeli war of choice aimed at toppling Iran’s long-ruling Islamist government. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday continued to insist that the war is not about regime change, but rather enduring yet bogus claims that Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons.

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Those killed include many civilians as well as former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and dozens of senior government and military officials. Iranian counterattacks have killed half a dozen US troops, 9 Israelis, and a handful of people in Gulf nations allied with the United States.

An attack on the Abbasabad Police Station—where anti-government protesters were allegedly tortured during the recent deadly crackdown—in Niloofar Square in central Tehran killed at least 20 people, local media reported.

“This is carpet-bombing, which has struck everything from playgrounds, to an emergency services HQ, schools, media buildings, and medical facilities,” documentary filmmaker Robert Inlakesh said in a social media post showing the aftermath of the strike.

Local residents said that the site was attacked for the second time in three days. This was part of broader US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, including attacks on the Revolutionary Court, Defense Ministry, other government sites, and civilian infrastructure including at least eight medical facilities and state media outlets.

Video footage of another attack on central Tehran—this one in Ferdowsi Square—showed devastation from what political analyst Trita Parsi called “seemingly indiscriminate” bombing.

“Increasingly, Israel and the US appear to be following the Gaza playbook, having failed to achieve a quick regime implosion,” Parsi said on social media.

Parsi also shared video of a distraught woman who described an apparent so-called “double-tap” strike, a common tactic used by the US, Israel, and other militaries in which an initial bombing is followed up with a second one in a bid to kill and injure survivors and first responders.

“They killed everyone,” the woman said of the attackers. “They dropped the first bomb, then when people went to help, they dropped another bomb.”

Local and international media reported at least 35 people killed in multiple attacks on targets in the southern Fars province, which neighbors Hormozgan province, where the deadliest massacre of the young war took place on Saturday. Officials said at least 175 people—mostly children—were killed in a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.

Several hours later, a missile strike on a gymnasium in Lamerd, Pars province, where dozens of teenage girls were playing sports reportedly killed at least 18 people.

“Like the destruction of the school in Minab, basic protections to safeguard the lives of civilians in war either failed or were disregarded, leading to catastrophic loss among Iran’s civilian population,” the National Iranian American Council said in a statement Monday.

Iranian Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said in a video posted on social media Sunday that “the Minab school incident has no comparison with any other incident, even in Gaza.”

Comparisons with Gaza—where Israel’s genocidal assault has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing since October 2023 and the coastal strip in ruins—have been numerous.

Condemning what it called the “barbarous” and “treacherous” US-Israeli attacks on Iran, Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based resistance group targeted by Israel during the Gaza war, said, “This aggression confirms the full and direct partnership between America and Israel in planning and execution, not only in the war against the Islamic Republic, but also in all the wars and crimes the region is facing, in Gaza, LebanonSyria, and Yemen.”

Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political analyst, said that, in Israeli society, “there’s a sense of triumphalism, of having attacked an enemy regime.”

“Not really because we’re greatly invested in the future of the Iranian people, but because, through the genocide on Gaza, we’ve devalued human life,” he added.

Parsi said that “Israel appears to be going Gaza on Iran.”

The renewed US and Israeli attacks on Iran follow last year’s limited war on the country that left thousands of Iranians dead or wounded, including at least 436 civilians killed and over 2,000 others injured, according to officials and activists.

United Nations officials and international human rights defenders were also among those condemning the US-Israeli war of choice.

Addressing the Minab school strike, UNESCO—the UN’s educational, scientific, and cultural agency—said that “the killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law.”

UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai asserted that “all states and parties must uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools,” adding that “every child deserves to live and learn in peace.”

In the United States—where Democratic and a handful of Republican lawmakers are reportedly drafting a war powers resolution in a bid to rein in President Donald Trump’s aggression—Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) took to social media to note the “over 555 Iranians already killed by US-Israeli bombs, including at least 165 at a girls’ elementary school.”

“At least four US service members are dead,” she also wrote, before that figure rose to six. “Any member of Congress who votes against the war powers resolution is voting for more of this.”

The Not Above the Law coalition was among the civil society groups urging Congress to pass an Iran war powers resolution.

“President Trump has launched deadly military strikes against Iran without congressional approval, in flagrant violation of the Constitution,” the coalition’s co-chairs said Monday. “Article I, Section 8 is crystal clear: Only Congress can declare war. Yet Trump has secured neither a declaration of war nor congressional authorization for military force.”

“Trump’s reckless unilateral action puts American lives and global security at risk while trampling the foundational principle that no president is above the law,” Not Above the Law added. “Congress must act immediately. Pass war powers resolutions to reject this unconstitutional power grab and reassert its authority over matters of war and peace. The rule of law demands it.”

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of Peace
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Continue ReadingUS, Israel ‘Going Gaza on Iran’ as Death Toll Tops 500 Amid New Massacres