ABNA24 - Ninety scholars from Germany have written a letter to the country’s Federal Foreign Office to condemn the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran.
“The German federal government’s statements to date do not clearly condemn this action, which violates international law. This contributes to the further erosion of the rules-based and institutional order in Europe and in the world,” reads the statement.
Parts of the letter is as follows:
As scholars specializing in International Law and International Relations, we are concerned about the German government’s response to the attack launched by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28, 2026.
The German federal government’s statements to date do not clearly condemn this action, which violates international law. This contributes to the further erosion of the rules-based and institutional order in Europe and in the world.
The use of military force against Iran by Israel and the United States constitutes a violation of the prohibition on the use of force under international law.
Since no armed attack by Iran on Israel, the United States, or any other state was imminent, the use of force is not justified by the right to self-defense. At the time of the attack, the U.S. and Iranian governments were still in negotiations regarding the Iranian nuclear program, and there is no evidence that the production and use of a nuclear bomb or other weapons were imminent.
The Federal Government must take the illegality of this attack into consideration when taking decisions about the use of military bases on German territory, unless it wants to violate both international law and the German Basic Law.
Germany’s historical responsibility, as well as the Basic Law’s inherent alignment with international law, oblige the Federal Government to respect and strengthen fundamental norms of international law as the foundation of German foreign policy. The prohibition of the use of force is a necessary condition for a peaceful world order and is therefore nonnegotiable.
Only a principled foreign policy can provide the background for ensuring that international law can also be demanded of other states in the future (e.g., in the demand for the security and sovereignty of Ukraine and Greenland). If third countries perceive the German federal government’s enforcement of international legal norms as selective, this impression of double standards may undermine future agreements and trust-based cooperation.
In the long term, therefore, it is not only morally and legally imperative, but also in Germany’s own interest, to insist on a rules-based order and to act accordingly.
/129
Your Comment