By Abdoulie John
As the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran escalates, renowned war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody has issued a stark warning: the US-Israeli military campaign violates core principles of international law and risks constituting the crime of aggression, with specific attacks on civilian sites potentially amounting to war crimes.
President Donald Trump’s recent profane threat to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” has intensified global outrage, coming amid ongoing strikes that have targeted Iranian infrastructure and resulted in significant civilian casualties. Human rights activists and legal experts worldwide are raising alarms over the bombing of civilian targets, including schools and other non-military sites.
In an exclusive interview with The Alkamba Times, Brody, a veteran campaigner known for pursuing dictators and war criminals, condemned the actions. “Whatever one thinks of the theocratic dictatorship in Iran, these US-Israeli attacks represent a clear violation of the foundational principle of the postwar legal order: the prohibition on the use of force,” he stated.
The conflict erupted on February 28, 2026, with US and Israeli forces launching extensive strikes on Iranian military, nuclear, and related facilities. This followed a 12-day war in June 2025 during which Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. Critics argue the latest offensive occurred despite ongoing nuclear talks and without an imminent threat to the US or its allies.
Brody pointed to the UN Charter as unambiguous on the matter. “Article 2(4) prohibits force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, and there are only two exceptions — Security Council authorization, which nobody sought, and self-defense under Article 51,” he explained. Article 51, he added, permits self-defense only in response to an “actual or imminent armed attack.” No such threat existed here, according to Brody.
“This was a war of choice, not necessity. President Trump has presumptively committed the international crime of aggression here, just as he did in Venezuela last month, and just as President Putin did in Ukraine,” Brody remarked. He referenced the Nuremberg Tribunal, which deemed aggression the “supreme international crime.”
Particularly disturbing is the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, on the first day of the campaign. Reports indicate a precision-guided missile hit the facility, killing over 160 people, including more than 100 children — many of them girls — along with teachers and parents. No survivors were reported from certain sections of the school.
Brody described the attack as unlawful. “Whether it rises to the level of a war crime depends on whether those who ordered the strike knew, or should have known, that there was a school full of children there,” he said. Satellite imagery, video footage, and witness accounts suggest the building had served as a civilian elementary school for over a decade, raising serious questions about targeting decisions.
The campaigner, who has long advocated for international justice, called for a full, independent investigation into the Minab incident and broader conduct of the war. “The facts on the ground — precision guided munitions, a school that had been a civilian institution for over a decade — raise the most serious questions. We need answers, and we need accountability,” he emphasized.
Brody’s voice joins a growing chorus of concern. On April 2, 2026, he was among over 100 US-based international law experts who signed an open letter denouncing the US-Israeli actions as violations of the UN Charter and potential war crimes. The letter highlights not only the illegality of initiating the conflict but also the risk of serious breaches of international humanitarian law during its prosecution, including attacks on civilian objects.
The strikes have caused extensive damage to Iranian infrastructure, thousands of casualties, and widespread displacement across the region. While US and Israeli officials maintain the operations target existential threats from Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, critics argue they exceed lawful self-defense and have provoked further instability.
Trump’s latest rhetoric, delivered in a speech on Sunday, has only fueled recriminations. Brody and fellow experts warn that such inflammatory language, combined with the scale of civilian harm, undermines the postwar international legal framework designed to prevent aggressive wars.
As the conflict spirals, calls for de-escalation and accountability are mounting. Brody and other legal luminaries stress that even in the face of a repressive regime in Tehran, the rules protecting against unlawful force and protecting civilians must hold. Without independent probes and adherence to the UN Charter, they argue, the foundations of global order risk further erosion.
