US Dismantling International Law in its War Against Iran While Claiming 'False' Victory: Legal Scholar

Saturday, 04 April 2026 10:47 AM

By Press TV Website Staff

The Trump administration is declaring “false victory” in its war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran while actively dismantling international humanitarian law (IHL), says a legal scholar at Queen’s University Belfast.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Alannah Travers, a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law, said the US President Donald Trump’s warning to “bomb Iran back to the Stone Age” reveals a dangerous disregard for legal norms.

She noted the irony that Iran was actually a cradle of innovation during the real Stone Age.

“Listening to President Trump declare a false victory (yet again) while simultaneously threatening to bomb a nation of 90 million people back to the Stone Age made me think of what legal scholars have termed the ‘warification’ of international humanitarian law,” Travers said.

Travers’ PhD is on Algorithmic Warfare and Civilian Harm - working with the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, an international initiative to develop civilian-led monitoring of violations of international humanitarian law or human rights; to secure accountability and reparation for those violations; and to develop the practice of civilian rights.

She pointed to Trump’s explicit threat to destroy “each and every” electricity-generating plant in Iran as a clear signal that his administration views the Geneva Conventions as optional. Under Article 52 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, civilian objects such as power plants and bridges must be protected.

“By targeting infrastructure essential for meeting the basic needs of tens of millions of Iranian civilians, the administration is moving towards a campaign of collective punishment with the sort of reverberating effects IHL once sought to prevent,” she said.

Travers also condemned the US military’s practice of housing troops in hotels in the Persian Gulf countries, calling it a breach of IHL that effectively uses local civilians as human shields.

Thirty-five days into the unprovoked and illegal war on Iran, Travers said it was difficult to identify any legitimate American war goals.

Instead, she pointed to measurable destruction: over 15,000 strikes, at least 1,900 killed, 20,000 injured, more than 600 schools hit, and 60 hospitals damaged – including the Pasteur Institute, which had been working on global health security.

“Are these, then, the war goals?” she asked. “Rather than neutralizing a threat, the US and Israel have waged war against civilian infrastructure.”

She noted that 2,100 children had been killed or injured by day 23 of the war, an average of 87 per day, including over 170 children at a school in southern Iran's Minab city.

Travers said the US and Israel have fallen for their own fantasies about superior AI-driven military technology, comparing the miscalculation to the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“It’s the same racist miscalculation that paved the road for the 2003 invasion of Iraq,” she said. “Most citizens of the region could explain it far better than I, having lived this violent ignorance with their bodies.”

She slammed Washington over institutionalized ignorance bordering on “overt racism and colonial arrogance,” particularly in its surprise that Iran’s retaliation has persisted for 34 days.

Travers referenced an open letter from over 100 legal scholars challenging the US and Israel’s conduct, noting there was no credible evidence of an imminent threat to justify a “self-defense” claim made by officials in Washington and Tel Aviv.

The letter also raised alarms about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “gloves off” approach, which has included removing senior military lawyers and weakening IHL compliance.

Travers also highlighted rare public rebukes from Catholic leaders. Pope Leo has condemned the US and Israel, saying God rejects the prayers of leaders whose “hands are full of blood.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the US Military Services since 2008, publicly rebuked Hegseth’s theology, telling troops to minimize participation in what he called an unjust war.

“When I met Broglio in January, my impression was he took a far more conservative view,” Travers said. “That he is now so clearly troubled is extremely telling.”

Travers also condemned Israeli military affairs minister Israel Katz’s vow to bring “Gaza-like destruction” to Lebanon, as well as Israel’s refusal to acknowledge its status as an occupying power.

She said that by keeping southern Lebanon in a state of perpetual armed conflict, Israel falsely claims military necessity under Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to justify forced displacements – a breach of Article 49.

“There is no such thing as a legal buffer zone on sovereign foreign soil,” she said. “These are more war crimes.”

Travers concluded that the lack of accountability in Palestine has directly enabled the current lawlessness across Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf. She called on the international community to move beyond “concerned statements” and take action.

“The Iranian people are navigating their survival in this crazed and lawless war amid their own domestic repression,” she said. “They deserve so much better. We have to stop this senseless war and ensure that those who waged it will face the full consequences of their illegal action.