The Guardian view on Trump’s Iranian campaign: an illegal war that risks becoming the new normal | Editorial

The US-Israeli military action will test the fragile rules governing the use of force

The killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by a US-Israeli strike is a targeted assassination of a head of state. It also marks a grave escalation in a region already burdened with smoulderingwars and fragile states. The consequencesof the deliberate strike will reverberate across a Middle East marked by the aftershocks of foreign intervention. Revulsion against the hardline regime in Tehran, or the desire for a better future for the Iranian people, does not confer a legal justification.

Force is lawful, under the UN charter, only in self-defence against an imminent attack or with security council approval. Neither condition has been met. There was no evidence of an instant, overwhelming"Iranian attack being prepared. What Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury looks like is not pre-emption but prevention: a decision to eliminate a future risk while an enemy appeared weak. It is a war of choice. MrTrump's call to overthrow a sovereign government was extraordinary.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.