Six months into the US-Iran war, will there be any accountability for potential war crimes?

The Trump administration has consistently viewed itself as being above international law.

Not only does it claim international law doesn’t apply to the United States, it has imposed sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

With these views, the Trump administration is setting a dangerous precedent.

Six months ago, the US and Israel started a war against Iran that legal scholars agree was a blatant violation of international law.

The US breached a fundamental prohibition on the use of force or threat of force, found in Article 2 of the UN Charter .

Since then, the way the US has fought the war has also come under scrutiny.

Its actions in Iran must be monitored, investigated and prosecuted if the evidence warrants it.

This is a crucial moment for international law in the face of concerted efforts to undermine and discredit it.

The laws of war The body of law that applies in conflicts is called international humanitarian law, or sometimes simply the laws of war.

International humanitarian law is designed to limit the means and methods of warfare to prevent the meaningless suffering of combatants and civilians.

Many (but not all) violations of these laws are known as war crimes.

The idea behind this body of law is to humanise war.

As far back as 500 BCE, Sun Tzu believed it was better to capture a state and an army intact, rather than destroy them.

Given this, international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian objects .