Oona Hathaway

Are the US-Israeli strikes on Iran legal under international law? - ABC listen The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended Britain's non-involvement in the strikes on Iran, by pointing to needing a sound legal basis for doing so.  The question whether the joint U-S-Isr...

Are the US-Israel strikes on Iran legal under international law?

Take a listen:

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Double Preemption, Imminence, and the U.S. Attack Against Iran Rubio’s argument that Operation Epic Fury was preemptive self-defense is not credible and does not satisfy the necessary precondition.

The Trump Administration keeps throwing new arguments at the wall to see what might stick--but each one is worse than the last.

This is an excellent piece by @eliavl.bsky.social explaining why Rubio's recent "double preemption" argument is a non-starter.

www.justsecurity.org/133093/preem...

NEW

The White House has submitted its War Powers report to Congress for the attack on Iran.

The justification for military action rests on 1) Iran's supposed continued quest for nuclear weapons and 2) the threat Iran's missiles pose to US forces, vessels, civilians and those of partners. 1/n

U.S. Military Death Toll Rises to 6

US military death toll rises to 6, Israel death toll at 10, Iran over 500 (including over 100 in a strike that hit a girl's school); 5 in Gulf states.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/w...

Prof. Hathaway: A Moment of Peril—and Possibility—to Reimagine the International Legal Order - ECPS Giving an interview to the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS), Professor Oona A. Hathaway—Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of

I spoke with the European Center for Populism Studies about this moment of extreme peril for the international legal order--and the opportunity to reimagine what is possible.

www.populismstudies.org/prof-hathawa...

Trump campaign peace promises loom large over Iran war The "anti-war" candidate has bombed seven countries and launched a new regime-change war in Iran.

"No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump."

www.axios.com/2026/03/02/t...

TAMPA, Fla. – As of 9:30 am ET, March 1, three U.S. service members have been killed in action and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury. Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty. Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing. The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

First US fatalities in Trump's illegal war on Iran.

At least 80 children dead as missile reportedly hits school in southern Iran The building appears to be among many devastated in Trump’s ‘major combat operations’ as long expected attacks arrive

Make that "at least 80 children," according to The Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Opinion | The Great Unraveling Has Begun

Today's attack on Iran is an attack on the postwar legal order. Yet again, Trump has taken an action that threatens to end an era of historic peace and return us to a world in which might makes right. The cost will be paid in human lives.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

Wars of choice kill those who have no choice. "Mistakes" like the reported strike on a girls' school that killed forty civilians are the predictable result of poor planning and execution.

For more on "Mistakes" in War, read this by me and @azmatzahra.bsky.social
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Opinion | Trump’s Strikes on Iran Were Unlawful. Here’s Why That Matters.

The strikes on Iran are blatantly illegal. I explained in June why the strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities were unlawful under US and international law. Everything I wrote then is true today, but this is a far larger assault with far graver consequences.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/o...

Army using AI to update doctrine Leaders at the Combined Army Doctrine Directorate have started training authors on generative AI tools to speed up research and drafting.

Yikes.

www.militarytimes.com/news/your-mi...

Couldn't agree more.

This shows once again that the Trump Administration is prepared to ignore the most fundamental principles of US and international law. Congress has completely abdicated its responsibility to check the President, and the world is paying the price.
6/6

It's possible that this is all a big expensive bluff meant to push Iran into a new nuclear deal. (To replace the one Trump tore up.) That, too, is illegal. The Charter prohibits illegal "threats" to use force. And international law makes treaties obtained through gunboat diplomacy unenforceable. 5/

A state can use force if authorized by the UN Security Council or if necessary to defend against an armed attack. Neither is true here. It is possible the Trump Administration will claim self defense, but that is not plausible. It has offered no evidence that Iran is planning an imminent attack. 4/

The strikes would also be illegal under international law. The United Nations Charter requires that states “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” There are limited exceptions . . . 3/

The strikes would be illegal under US law. The US Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the power to declare war. As I explained in June, the 1973 War Powers Resolution does not change this. It is meant to prevent a president from launching illegal wars. 2/

Opinion | Trump’s Strikes on Iran Were Unlawful. Here’s Why That Matters.

I wrote about the US strikes on Iran in June for @nytimes.com. It seems that we're about to watch a replay, but this time it could be far worse.

Like the June strikes, new strikes would be blatantly illegal under the U.S. constitution and international law.
1/

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/o...

Impact of two decades of humanitarian and development assistance and the projected mortality consequences of current defunding to 2030: retrospective evaluation and forecasting analysis ODA funding has played a decisive role in reducing preventable mortality across LMICs over the past two decades, and the abrupt withdrawal of this support threatens to cause millions of avoidable deat...

Horrific cost of DOGE cuts:

If current projected US foreign aid cuts remain in place, by 2030 "the projected excess deaths would be 9.4 million (95% UI 6.2–12.6) overall and 2.5 million (1.8–3.2) among children younger than 5 years."

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Too true.

次期米国際法学会長、ベネズエラ攻撃で憂慮　広島で人間への思い深め：朝日新聞 突然ベネズエラの首都を攻撃し、現職大統領夫妻を拘束し米国に連れ去る――。年始早々、「法の支配」ではなく「力こそ正義」を見せつけた米トランプ政権。そんな政権を厳しく批判するのが、米イエール大学教授で、…

Glad to do this interview with Shinichi Ikeda, of The Asahi, on the latest violations of international law by the Trump Administration.

digital.asahi.com/articles/ASV...

Now out!

"The World Court's Enforcement Dilemma--And How to Solve It" in The Georgetown Law Journal, with my coauthors Cindy Garay and Kevin Zhang.

You can read it here:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

US sanctions defy norms for International Criminal Court - The World from PRX The US has imposed sanctions on 11 judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court. It has also sanctioned some individuals and NGOs working with the court. This has complicated the lives o...

Glad to speak with Shirin Jaafari for this story on the US sanctions on the International Criminal Court:

theworld.org/segments/202...

Think from KERA For decades, treaties meant war could be avoided if everyone just followed the law. Oona A. Hathaway teaches law and political science at Yale and is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment fo...

Oona Hathaway joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why a golden age of treaties seems to be tarnishing, how the legal basis for entering conflicts is being conflated and reinterpreted, and how aggressive U.S. tactics are upsetting the world order.

Listen:

play.prx.org/listen?ge=pr...

Unhinged

"Many presidents have pushed at the limits of their powers to achieve some particular goal.

What makes Mr. Trump’s claims to expanded executive authority unprecedented is not just his aggressiveness, but the sheer volume of the ways he is consolidating power."

Trump now says he'll impose a 10% tariff (rising to 25% in June) on some of our closest allies until the US can buy Greenland.

It's long past time for Congress to put an end to this.

For more on the case, and the revolution in international human rights law it helped ignite, read here:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings in the case The Gambia v. Myanmar The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings on the merits of the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia ...

Public hearings are happening now in the International Court of Justice on the merits of the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). Watch here:

webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1q...