Since the 1979 storming of the embassy and seizure of American diplomats in Tehran, the United States has imposed wave after wave of sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over time, the sanctions have grown from Executive orders aimed at Iranian support for terrorism into a far more comprehensive congressional and international regime that focuses on Iran’s nuclear program. As negotiations over this program continue, legal analysis of non-proliferation agreements, sanctions law and the respective foreign policy powers of Congress and the President have become inextricably linked to the diplomatic initiative with the Islamic Republic.
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The international community’s will to deliver medical supplies to Iran despite potential penalties from the U.S. government demonstrates a challenge to the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign.
The aggressive U.S. strategy has raised tensions in Iraq without creating prospects for a resolution.
Speaking at Brigham Young University, Defense Department General Counsel Paul Nye offered the most-detailed defense we have yet seen of the Soleimani airstrike, addressing both international and domestic law as well as the underlying facts.
The White House has sent a notice to Congress outlining its legal and policy justifications for the Jan. 2 airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. This disclosure is a legally mandated reporting requirement introduced through Section 1264 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, a measure intended to increase transparency in U.S. national security policy.
The reapplication of U.S. secondary sanctions measures following the American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has been at the heart of current challenges facing the nuclear deal.
The killing of Qassem Soleimani has significantly destabilized U.S.-Iraq relations and undermined long-term U.S. interests.
The United States could start by clarifying its objectives.
The United States claims to have “exercised its inherent right of self-defense” in accordance with Article 51 of the U.N. Charter in conducting a drone strike in Iraq targeting Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani.
Both sides are sending mixed messages, which can be disastrous for deterrence.
While the United States prohibits assassination as a matter of national policy, not every killing violates this ban. And even if the killing did not have an international legal basis, it may not necessarily constitute an assassination under the U.S. government’s definition of the term.