South Africa says US-Israeli attacks on Iran ‘unlawful’

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation Director General Zane Dangor has described the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran’s attacks in the Middle East as unlawful.

This follows concerns regarding the justification and implications of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The US administration, acting alongside Israel, claimed the strikes were a necessary preemptive measure.

The justification faced immediate criticism from international leaders.

While military actions continued, the US administration appeared to walk back, shifting the focus from ‘preemptive’ to ‘self-defence’.

“There is quite a lot of confusion because they attempted to justify this initially as acting preemptively, which is actually unlawful.

“One of their strangest definitions of preemption that I have heard is that you know that Israel is going to attack, which is an unlawful act in terms of the UN Charter, because there was no armed attack by Iran. And based on the assumption that Iran will retaliate, you attack first, and that is called preemption.”

Dangor added that these actions, and those of Iran in retaliation, are why the United Nations is important.

“We are questioning whether the UN is respected, and that is one thing. There’s a willingness and a brazenness in moving away from international norms and laws. If that happens without challenge, then we are all at risk.

“If we lose completely the sense of willingness to work together around a common set of norms that we all signed up for through the charter… then we are going to have a situation where predatory hegemons will rule the world as they please,” he said.

To listen to Dangor in conversation with 702’s Bongani Bingwa, use the audio player below: