US-Israeli military actions in Iran undermine international legal norms and global stability
Original framing: “Neither preemptive nor legal, US-Israeli strikes on Iran have blown up international law” — The Conversation - Global
The current breakdown of international legal norms echoes historical patterns of imperial intervention and the selective enforcement of international law. The US and its allies have a long history of bypassing international law to pursue strategic interests, as seen in interventions in Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran are not isolated legal violations but symptoms of a deeper crisis in the international legal order, shaped by the dominance of Western geopolitical interests and the marginalization of non-Western legal traditions.
Historical patterns of imperial intervention and the selective enforcement of international law reveal a system that privileges powerful states over universal norms. Indigenous and non-Western legal frameworks offer alternative models of justice and accountability that could help rebuild a more inclusive and equitable global order. To move forward, international institutions must be reformed to reflect a broader range of voices and values, and new mechanisms must be established to ensure that all states are held to the same legal standards. This requires a systemic shift from unilateralism to multilateralism, from punitive enforcement to restorative justice, and from legal abstraction to lived experience.