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To confront Iran, US must also confront Russia
Opinion

To confront Iran, US must also confront Russia

by Oleksandr Merezhko

No regime invokes international law more fervently than when it sees its power being challenged. The moment American and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets, officials in Moscow and Tehran rushed to rediscover the UN Charter, denouncing the operation as unlawful. Their sudden reverence for the "rule-book" is politically convenient — but it also forces a serious question: on what legal grounds can the use of force against Iran be justified? One of U.S. President Donald Trump's principal argum

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To confront Iran, US must also confront Russia

No regime invokes international law more fervently than when it sees its power being challenged. The moment American and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets, officials in Moscow and Tehran rushed to rediscover the UN Charter, denouncing the operation as unlawful. Their sudden reverence for the "rule-book" is politically convenient — but it also forces a serious question: on what legal grounds can the use of force against Iran be justified? One of U.S. President Donald Trump's principal argum

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An Iranian-made Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drone flies over Kermanshah, Iran, on March 7, 2024.

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Russia's image as a reliable ally has suffered yet another blow as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint U.S.–Israeli strikes across Iran on Feb. 28, marking a fresh outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. So far, Moscow's response to the U.S.–Israeli bombardment of hundreds of targets in Iran has been limited to diplomatic support for Tehran, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has openly called for a change of regime. The latest development highlights Iran's junior ro

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