This statement was sent by Cherrill Spencer chair of WILPF US Disarm
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) condemns in the strongest terms the joint attack by the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic of Iran, launched on the morning of Saturday, February 28, 2026, amid the holy month of Ramadan. These attacks constitute another example of the crime of aggression, in blatant violation of article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity of states, good neighborliness and the peaceful settlement of disputes. International law clearly prohibits both the use of force and the threat to use force against the territorial integrity of any state, and it is also clear that the United States and Israel have deep disregard and contempt for these principles.
Neither the U.S. nor Israel has even attempted to hide the fact that this aggression is being carried out to facilitate a regime change that they would find amenable to their goals of total domination of the entire region of West Asia militarily, economically and politically, and to deprive the Palestinian people under occupation and facing an ongoing genocide of support for their capacity to resist and free themselves of this unlawful occupation. We reiterate our statements of 18 June 2025 and 23 June 2025, issued during the 12-day war of 2025, another illegal aggression perpetrated by the same parties against Iran. The persistent lack of accountability or any meaningful consequences for those responsible has not merely enabled further warmongering and destruction; it has entrenched a culture of impunity that effectively amounts to complicity.
Once again, we note that purported negotiations that claimed to seek a peaceful resolution or to address nuclear development were used as a sham in an attempt to lower Iranian defenses, as we have seen before in the context of the invasion of Iraq. Israeli officials have openly stated that they have planned this attack over months and weeks, spanning a larger period of time than any of the negotiation rounds. Such aggression not only underlines the bad faith of the United States and Israel but also discourages nations from participating in peace talks or negotiations, when it has been made clear that these states view such negotiations only as a way to pass time until a new aggression is launched. This aggression follows by less than two months the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the unlawful abduction of its president and first lady, and comes amid the ongoing war threats and oil blockade imposed on Cuba. This complete disregard for the process of negotiations only encourages nuclear proliferation around the world; we further note that the United States holds the world’s largest supply of nuclear weapons and is the only state to have used them. Further, Israel is an undeclared nuclear power that routinely makes threats based on its nuclear weapons capacity.
In this context, we must again note the complicity of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is not acting as a neutral party but instead to provide pretexts for those engaged in illegal acts of war and aggression. In a near-repeat of the events of 13 June 2025, when the IAEA issued a resolution against Iran in disregard of all available evidence only hours before the Israeli bombing began, on 27 February 2026, the IAEA issued a statement claiming that it was “unable to verify” whether Iran was continuing heavy enrichment, pointing out what it claimed to be an underground facility in Isfahan, and demanding Iran allow its inspectors to enter closed, secure facilities. Once again, the IAEA’s disturbing role in the U.S.-Israeli aggression on Iran betrays the stated function of the agency in the interests of an undeclared nuclear power and the only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war.
We note that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is still the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while pursuing constant war and aggression against the Palestinian people targeted for genocide, Lebanon, Syria, and now, once again, Iran. The aggression launched today is the continuation of the illegal aggression launched last year as well as a continuation of a sustained and deliberate campaign of hostile acts spanning more than 46 years – including sanctions designed to destroy the Iranian economy, coordinated cyber-warfare operations, targeted assassinations and systematic acts of sabotage.
We urge all states to provide all necessary assistance, consistent with their obligations under international law, to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Palestine, and other nations subjected to unlawful aggression by the United States and Israel, as well as to serious violations of international law, including genocide. We underline that this aggression is a threat not only to all of the peoples and nations of the West Asian region but to the future of multilateralism, international law, and the territorial integrity of states. Iran, a sovereign nation, has the clear and legitimate right to defend itself against this unlawful aggression. We urge all states to immediately implement an arms embargo on Israel and the U.S., withdraw their ambassadors, and pursue legal actions to hold their military and political officials accountable.
We cannot rely solely on states or international institutions to end this aggression. We urge all supporters of justice, sovereignty, peace, and international law to participate in mass demonstrations and actions against the aggression on Iran, and to mobilize popular pressure to bring the aggression to an end. We urge all legal organizations, lawyers and human rights organizations to utilize domestic and international systems to hold Israeli and U.S. officials and soldiers accountable for their unlawful aggression against Iran and their acts of genocide in Palestine, as well as to support and defend organizers and social movements against state repression for their work to end war and genocide.
