Over 100 US legal experts condemn strikes on Iran as possible ‘war crimes’

United States-based scholars sign open letter raising concerns about conduct, rhetoric during US-Israeli war on Iran.

More than 100 United States-based international law experts have signed an open letter condemning US and Israeli military strikes on Iran as a violation of the United Nations Charter and potentially amounting to “war crimes”.

The letter, published on Thursday, also said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law”.

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The scholars warned that the US-Israeli campaign, which began on February 28, was launched without UN Security Council authorisation and without credible evidence of an imminent Iranian threat.

“Force against another state is only permitted in self-defense against an actual or imminent armed attack or where authorized by the UN Security Council. The Security Council did not authorize the attack. Iran did not attack Israel or the United States,” the letter said.

The experts’ concerns fall into four areas: the legality of the decision to go to war; the conduct of hostilities; threatening rhetoric from senior officials; and what they describe as the dismantling of civilian protection structures inside the US government under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “gloves off” approach to warfare.

The scholars highlighted a strike on a primary school in Minab, Iran, on the first day of the war that killed at least 175 people, most of them children, as well as attacks on hospitals, water plants and energy infrastructure.

“We are seriously concerned about strikes that have hit schools, health facilities, and homes,” the letter said.

‘Alarming disrespect’ for international law

The letter also condemned public statements by senior US officials, including President Donald Trump.

In particular, it noted a mid-March comment from Trump where he said the US may conduct strikes on Iran “just for fun”. It also cited comments from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth from early March in which he said the US does not fight with “stupid rules ⁠of engagement”.

“Public statements by senior officials indicate an alarming disrespect for the rules of international humanitarian law accepted by states, and which protect both civilians and members of the armed forces,” the letter said.

It also added that the war is costing US taxpayers up to $2bn a day.

The letter was co-authored by prominent legal scholars including Yale Law School’s Oona Hathaway and Harold Koh, Philip Alston of NYU, and former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth.

The experts said that due to their connection to the US, their main focus was on the conduct of that government, but they “remain concerned about the risk of atrocities across the region”.

They also highlighted the “importance of equal application of international law to all, including countries that hold themselves out as global leaders”, expressing concern about the harm this war is doing to the international legal order and the system of international law.

The signatories are urging Washington to change course, writing: “We urge US government officials to uphold the UN Charter, international humanitarian law, and human rights law at all times, and to publicly make clear US commitment to and respect for norms of international law.”