German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the Israeli-U.S. current war in Iran a “violation of international law” and a “politically disastrous mistake” at a ceremony at the German Foreign Office on Tuesday.
“That’s what frustrates me the most: a truly avoidable, unnecessary war, if its goal was to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb,” he said.
“Our foreign policy does not become more convincing simply because we refuse to call a violation of international law what it is,” he said. Steinmeier added, “We had to grapple with this during the Gaza war, and we must grapple with it in the Iran war as well.”
“In my view, this war is a violation of international law,” Steinmeier added, saying that the “justification of an imminent attack on the United States does not hold water.”
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French Army Chief Fabien Mandon on Tuesday said that the United States “remains an ally” to France, but “is becoming increasingly unpredictable,” and that the unpredictability has an impact on French security and interests.
Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister said earlier this month that the joint U.S.-Israeli attack violated international law in an interview published on Sunday, adding that “like Iran, they violated international law.”
Pfister told SonntagsZeitung news that the Swiss Federal Council believes the strikes breached the prohibition on the use of force under international law and called on all parties to halt the fighting to protect civilians.
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Pfister’s comments echo concerns voiced by German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who told the RND newspaper network he had “serious doubts that this war is legitimate under international law,” while stressing that Germany would not take part in the conflict.
Spain has also condemned the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran as reckless and illegal.
Iran’s Red Crescent had asked earlier this month the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to open an investigation into alleged war crimes stemming from U.S. and Israeli attacks in Iran.
In a statement, Iran’s Red Crescent said the request concerns what it described as strikes on civilian targets across the country. According to the appeal, residential areas, medical facilities, schools, humanitarian sites, urban infrastructure and public spaces were either directly targeted or hit indiscriminately during the attacks.