Markus W. Gehring

Madrid bars US from using Spanish bases to attack Iran Spain is an outlier among EU countries in its strong condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

The U.S. pulled its warplanes from Spanish bases after Madrid prohibited their use against Iran, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said today.

"No stupid rules of engagement"

We just bombed a school and killed dozens of children.

UK slashes climate aid programmes for developing countries Exclusive: Schemes worth hundreds of millions of pounds to protect biodiversity and oceans likely to be substantially reduced

On the day the UK’s special relations, the USA, withdraws from the UNFCCC, the UK is on the brink of breaching the Paris Agreement. Let’s not forget mitigation, adaptation and finance form a triangle of obligations and are not optional. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

press release- | Federal Government Joint declaration of President Macron and Chancellor Merz

Germany moving closer to participate in France’s nuclear deterrence. Let’s remember that the ICJ has declared most uses of nuclear weapons violations of int’l law. Not sure that Germany could legally participate in their use under the Grundgesetz.

www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/news...

Ehe man, wie viele hier, auf das Völkerrecht um der guten Sache willen pfeift, sollte man es kennen - und welche Folgen es hätte, wenn es kein Völkerrecht gäbe.

www.lto.de/recht/hinter...

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...

The American Society of International Law has published a statement on the US Use of Force against Iran

We knew this was coming but the withdrawal by Trump from the UNFCCC is still shocking highlighting the overt departure from a global consensus. Can we really trade with a country that directly undermines global climate governance.

I think the usual 'mistakes' such as target misidentification, failure to detect presence of civilians, pre-strike proportionality assessment might all have gone wrong in this case and thus do not constitute excuses. Those who took the strike decision in this case should be held criminally liable.

Refugee status becomes temporary in asylum shake-up Adults and accompanied children claiming asylum will only receive refugee status for 30 months under the changes.

Abysmal, immoral, cruel, small hearted, tiny minded, ineffective, undemocratic, and just generally utterly indecent. What a bitter godforesaken disappointment these people are.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hidden in the Trade and Sustainable Growth (?) and Development chapter is making the Paris Agreement an essential element in Art 15.7. 3: '... each Party shall remain a party, in good faith, of the Paris Agreement. This obligation shall constitute an essential element of this Agreement.' Good.

LCIL Friday Lecture: ''Mistakes' in War' - Prof Oona Hathaway, Yale Law School

It is backed up by an extensive analysis of all available US 'mistakes' in the last couple of years - hear Oona's @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social lecture here:
open.spotify.com/episode/5bbD...

Such an important international colloquium by the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, this year @uctlaw.bsky.social 7 to 11 December 2026 | Cape Town, South Africa Theme: It’s the End of the World as We Know It: North-South Dialogues on the Way Forward for Law iucnael.cmcevents.co.za

Of course it is illegal and a war crime. The 'excuse' of mistakes in war has most recently been debunked by Hathaway and Khan doi.org/10.58112/upl...

Very interesting dynamic alignment provision in Art. 5 of for example this protocol on free movement of persons plus referral mechanism to the Court of Justice in this new EU-Swiss Institutional Agreement. The UK should take note.

data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document...

Quite a few innovations in this agreement which will become relevant for the UK in the near future. Elegant solution of @eucourtofjustice.bsky.social involvement in my view.

The UK is not just allowing defensive actions. It permits its bases to be used to attack inside Iran. It is thus aiding and abetting an illegal war of aggression. Legally indefensible.

With the greatest respect Thom but this PM has today completely betrayed his legal education. He and his Government know the US attacks on Iran are illegal in int’l law and he now collaborates with the attacker. Worse, while we support an illegal war, we weaken refugee protection. Disgraceful.

Summary of the UK Government legal position: The legality of defensive action in respect of Iranian regional attacks Summary of the UK Government legal position: The legality of defensive action in respect of Iranian regional attacks

Shocking lack of recognition that the US attack is illegal under international law. This one-sided legal advice does not even acknowledge the illegal reason for the conflict. Notifying the Security Council is outright comical: Summary of the UK Government legal position www.gov.uk/government/n...

Zitat: „Die Verletzung der UN-Charta liegt hier so offen zutage, wie es deutlicher kaum sein könnte.“

Die USA und Israel haben mit einem Militärangriff auf den Iran begonnen.

MARKO MILANOVIĆ zeigt, warum sich die Militärschläge nicht als Selbstverteidigung nach Art. 51 der UN-Charta rechtfertigen lassen und offenkundig gegen das Völkerrecht verstoßen.

verfassungsblog.de/warum-der-er...

The EU is a union of law and should at least call out violations of international law.

📺 TV en DIRECTO | Sánchez, sobre el ataque de Israel y EE UU a Irán: "Es cierto que descabezaron un régimen terrible que reprime en especial a mujeres y niñas (...) No es que el fin no justifque los medios, es que el propio fin y esos medios nos abocan a un desastre mayor" tinyurl.com/2rrph33p

With Iran attacks, President Trump is making the use of force the new normal – and casting aside international law The attacks – and the assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei – create precedents for other countries seeking to resort to force without consideration for the rule of law.

‘The US has taken a further, major step in unhinging the global order. The core principle of that order is that no state can go to war in pursuit of its own national policy.’ I agree with my @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social colleague Prof Weller @chathamhouse.org. www.chathamhouse.org/2026/03/iran...

The illegality in international law is blatant.

This is what you get in a lawless world, perhaps a return to international law is advised?

The American-Israeli Strikes on Iran are (Again) Manifestly Illegal After weeks of threats, the United States, joined by Israel, has launched military strikes against Iran. It remains to be seen whether these strikes will be fairly limited, or are the opening of an ex...

You guessed it but the US attack on Iran is manifestly illegal in international law. Thank you Prof Milanovic for such clear analysis in the @ejiltalk.bsky.social blog.

www.ejiltalk.org/the-american...

Very cool programme: Applications for the UN International Law Fellowship Programme, to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 29 June to 31 July 2026, are now being accepted. The deadline for applications is 30 March 2026. Additional information at: legal.un.org/poa/ilfp/

Text of the agreements Read the different sections of the agreements.

And another new draft agreement - much more than UK-India on climate and sustainable development but much less than the most recent EU FTAs.

policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-rel...

.@ec.europa.eu just announced that they are moving forward with the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement (iTA) without waiting for the @eucourtofjustice.bsky.social to give the Opinion requested by @europarl.europa.eu. This is new and somewhat unprecedented.