On Iran, Israel and who has the right to self-defence and sovereignty

On April 1, Israel bombed an Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, killing several people including commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Despite this flagrant violation of international law—which infringed on Syria's sovereignty, breached the norms and protections accorded to diplomatic facilities, and flouted rules against extrajudicial killings—the United States failed to condemn Israel's action or acknowledge it as a clear escalation in a region already fraught with high tensions.

Not only did the US decline to censure Israel for its deadly attack in Syria, President Joe Biden's administration opposed a United Nations Security Council statement that would have condemned the attack.

By applying international norms such as sovereignty and the right to self-defence inconsistently, the US is eroding the international system and values it claims to champion. What is especially clear is that the rules are different for US allies versus its adversaries.

Double standards

Compared to the US reaction to a raid on Mexico's embassy in Ecuador just days later, or its reaction to Iran's military response to Israel's attack, the differences could not be starker.

When Ecuadorian authorities raided a Mexican embassy on April 5, international reaction was swift, drawing strong condemnations from many countries, including from the United States. Mexican officials rightly denounced the invasion as "an outrage against international law."

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan affirmed the "inviolability of diplomatic missions" and stated that Ecuador's action "jeopardises the foundation of basic diplomatic norms and relationships."

But days earlier, when US officials were asked about Israel's targeting of Iran's diplomatic mission in Syria, they offered no criticism and said the matter was still being assessed.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was given another chance to criticise Israel's action a week after its strike. But instead he responded by saying "I'm not going to speak to this specific strike, but I'll say we do not want to see the conflict escalated in any way."

Two days before Iran retaliated against Israel in response to the bombing of its embassy complex, a reporter raised the issue again with Miller, stating that Iran had said a retaliation could have been avoided if the UN would condemn Israel's attack.

Miller called it a "flimsy excuse" from Iran and said that if the country did not want a wider conflict, officials could simply choose not to respond.

Then on April 13, Iran launched an unprecedented retaliatory action on Israeli soil. As many commentators have observed, Iran's aim appeared to be balanced between responding to Israeli aggression while avoiding damage or casualties that would escalate the situation further.

Turkish, Iraqi and Jordanian officials stated that Iran had given notice days before its attack. After telegraphing its attack, 99 percent of Iran's drones and missiles were intercepted—mostly by the United States—leaving little damage and no casualties.

'Reckless' acts

Unlike after Israel's embassy attack in Syria, Western officials promptly criticised Iran's retaliation. The US condemned Iran's attack at the United Nations Security Council, the very institution it has undermined for months in order to protect Israel from any accountability for its violations of international law.

At a State Department press briefing following Iran’s strikes, Miller called Iran's actions "reckless" and "escalatory"—language he had refrained from using for Israel—and said it was important that "the international community act as a unified front," while stating that Iran's actions were destabilising the region and violated the principles of sovereignty.

It is beyond parody to see Biden officials invoke the principles of sovereignty and international law and show concern for destabilising behaviour, while ignoring Israel's attack that violated all the same principles and prompted Iran's reaction.

On top of that, the United States has spent the last six months shredding international law in its unconditional support for Israel's war on Gaza, which has put Israel on trial for genocide at the world's highest court.

Despite the rules-based order discourse the Biden administration often uses, its selective application makes those rules another tool of power rather than a framework for accountability.

More than two weeks after Israel's attack in Damascus, Miller was asked again about the US assessment and responded again that it has not yet made a determination.

Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pushed back, questioning why the process was taking so long and noting that the administration was quick to condemn the invasion of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador. Miller in turn denied the comparison.

Hypocrisy continues

Yet, it is this precise kind of hypocrisy that has defined the actions of the Biden administration on the subject of Israel.

While the administration has repeatedly declared Israel's right to self-defence and the sanctity of its sovereignty, the same tenets have been denied to the victims of Israel's aggression.

Most notably the Palestinian people, but also other states in the region that Israel has carried out bombings, sabotage, and assassinations against.

From the outset of Israel's attack on an Iranian embassy complex in Syria, the US denied any breaches in international norms as well as violations of sovereignty against both states.

Soon after, the US disregarded any notion that Iran has the right to self-defence, much as it has refused to acknowledge the right of Palestinians to self-defence time and again.

However, these rights and norms cannot be meaningful if they are not universal to all peoples or if the rules that govern them are not applied to every state, including the US and its friends.

No country or individual can be above the law. If the US refuses to uphold the laws without prejudice, then it is time for the international community to call out the hypocrisy and demand accountability from the United States.