More than 100 experts on international law have signed an open letter expressing profound concern about what they see as serious violations of international law by the US, Israel, and Iran in the Middle East war.
They say the US-Israeli decision to attack on Iran was a clear breach of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the use of force outside of self-defence or when authorized by the UN Security Council.
The experts point to alarming rhetoric being used by officials, including US President Donald Trump's threats to obliterate Iran's power plants.
In response, the White House said Trump was making the entire region safer, and dismissed what it described as so-called experts.
In the letter, the experts also took issue with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's statement that no quarter be given for enemies, which means refusing to spare the life of anybody, even those who surrender or are wounded.
The signatories include Jonathan Tracy, a former US army judge advocate, Harold Hongju Koh, a former legal adviser at the US state department, and Oona A Hathaway, a professor of International Law at Yale Law School.
The letter has been published in Just Security, an online journal based at New York University School of Law.
