Was it lawful for Israel to strike Iran preemptively? International law and security expert Alexander Gilder tells DW Israeli strikes against Iran would only have been lawful if an attack from Iran was imminent.

The United States has joined Israel in striking nuclear targets in Iran. It follows an escalating broader conflict in the region including the ongoing Gaza war.

Iran Strikes

Dr. Alexander Gilder, Associate Professor of International Law and Security, explains that under international law, a preemptive strike by Israel against Iran would only be lawful if an attack from Iran was imminent. He notes that while Israel cites threats and potential nuclear capabilities as justification, the threshold for imminence is high, typically requiring clear evidence of an impending attack, such as troops mobilizing or planes preparing to strike.

Gilder highlights that past incidents, like Israel's 1980s strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor, were condemned by the international community for lacking imminence. He also points out that the United Nations Security Council's ability to act is limited by the veto power of Israel's allies, making enforcement of international law challenging. Despite these limitations, Gilder believes international law still influences state behavior and international relations.

What international law says about Israeli strikes on Iran

Well, let's get some legal perspective with Dr. Alexander Gilder, Associate Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Reading. Good to see you. When can a US president use military force overseas? Does Iran represent one of these occasions? The issue here for the US is, is there a distinction between a use of force against a terrorist targets, which the US president does not need authorization from Congress, or is it a declaration of war, which only Congress can give? And ultimately, if Congress disagrees with a presidential use of force, then at their disposal is limiting funding. And they can show that they are unhappy with the president's use of force by limiting funds to the military, which would obviously damage the US capabilities. Since Iran did not attack Israel first, is it lawful then for Israel to strike Tehran preemptively? Yeah, the issue here is a thorny issue, a long one in international law. Ultimately, it comes down to this imminence aspect of was an attack from Iran imminent against Israel. Israel say that there has been declarations from Iran that they want to destroy Israel and that nuclear capability makes that threat imminent. But the issue is whether or not troops were, for example, preparing for invasion, that might be imminent. Were planes about to take off to go and attack Israel, that would be imminent as well. In the past, there have been instances where the international community, including the US and the UK, have said that something is not imminent, particularly where Israel in the 1980s attacked the Iraq-Osirak reactor, and Iraq did not at the time have nuclear weapons, did not have those capabilities. And the international community, including Israel's allies, denounced that strike, saying that that was too far removed from imminence. The US intelligence services have said that Iran is potentially three years away from having nuclear weapons. And that, to me, is not imminent. That attack you referenced there was widely condemned, including by the UN, the US and the UK. Does the international community have any tools today to prevent a US attack on Iran? The issue here is the veto in the Security Council. The Security Council could pass a resolution denouncing Israeli use of force. That in the current political climate is unlikely. Israel's allies would likely prevent that kind of resolution from passing. So international law often looks like a bit of a damp squid here in that it's not able to enforce itself on states like Israel, where allies in the Security Council are preventing that kind of enforcement action. Leading me to my final question, does international law mean as much as it used to, to today's world leaders? I think it does. And I think it will still temper their appetite for action. I think the states are still concerned about what the rest of the international community thinks of them as an international law follower or an international law breaker. And that will forge alliances going forward that will affect international trade, that affects how that state is able to function internationally if it's not trusted as a state that follows international law and keeps to its agreements. Dr Alexander Gilder, Associate Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Reading.

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What international law says about Israeli strikes on Iran

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