United States

Recent efforts by the United States to interdict Iranian oil shipments in distant waters have extended well beyond the Persian Gulf. These operations have included the interception of tankers carrying Iranian oil—often operating under neutral flags—in areas such as the Indian Ocean, far from any declared blockaded zone. In at least some instances, so-called “sanctioned”…

On 25 March 2026, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution A/80/L.48 titled “Declaration on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity”. 123 UN member states voted in favour, 3 (the United States, Israel, and Argentina) voted against, and 52 abstained. The abstaining states included all…

The Legal Novelty of the Proposal  International commentary on the Strait of Hormuz crisis has focused, understandably, on the lawfulness of Iran’s closure. The more legally significant development has received comparatively little analysis: Iran’s stated intention to revise the legal order governing it on a continuing basis. On April 5, Deputy Presidential Chief of Staff Mehdi Tabatabaei…

Legal assessments of the ongoing Israel-US hostilities with Iran have thus far been largely characterized by a binary framework. Criticisms have focused on the manifest disregard for the UN Charter and the law governing self-defence. Supportive assessments have either contorted the Charter requirement of imminence beyond recognition—or simply looked past it…