US-Israeli aggression against Iran amounts to war crimes: American experts

Dozens of international law experts in the United States have signed an open letter stating that the ongoing American-Israeli war of aggression against Iran may amount to war crimes.

In the letter released on Thursday, over 100 international law experts in the US warned that 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, including potential war crimes."

This came after President Donald Trump reiterated his threats this week to strike Iran's power and desalination plants.

“President Trump further threatened to ‘obliterate’ power plants in Iran. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended power plant attacks the next day and also said that striking nuclear power plants was not off the table. It is prohibited to attack civilian energy infrastructure,” read the letter.

The experts, including those from schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the University of California, also noted a mid-March comment from Trump where he said the US may conduct strikes on Iran "just for fun."

The letter, which was published on the website of the Just Security policy journal, 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."

“Recent statements from senior US government officials describing the rules governing military engagement as 'stupid' and prioritizing 'lethality' over 'legality' are profoundly alarming and dangerously short-sighted.”

The experts further emphasized that the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, clearly violated the United Nations Charter prohibition on the use of force.

“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.”

Despite the Trump administration’s varied and sometimes conflicting claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat that could ground a self-defense claim, they stated.

The experts expressed serious concern about strikes that have hit schools, health facilities, and homes, noting a strike on a school in Iran on the war's first day, which killed about 170 children in the city of Minab.

"The war, which is costing US taxpayers between $1-2 billion each day, is imposing significant harm on civilians in the region, has resulted in the loss of hundreds of civilian lives across the Middle East, and is causing serious environmental and economic harms," the experts said in the letter.

The war has also abolished “civilian environment teams” and other mechanisms specifically designed to limit harm to civilians during operations, they added.

"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 the US commitment to and respect for norms of international law."

The US and Israel launched their illegal act of aggression against Iran on February 28 by assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders, in flagrant breach of the country’s sovereignty.

The Iranian armed forces responded with more than 92 waves of retaliatory strikes, codenamed Operation True Promise 4, launching hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as drone attacks against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.

The US and Israel launched an unprovoked act of aggression against Iran on February 28, targeting sites across the country, including civilian areas such as schools, hospitals, and sports halls.

United Nations experts have recently strongly denounced the ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran as flagrant violations of international law.

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