Source: The Hill
by George Fisher
“The U.N. Charter allows attacks on sovereign nations in only two cases — if authorized by the U.N. Security Council or in self-defense after an armed attack. Because waiting for an armed attack can prove disastrous, international law has long countenanced ‘anticipatory’ self-defense to ward off imminent attacks … After the British justified an attack on U.S. territory as an act of self-defense, [Daniel] Webster delivered a famous riposte. Self-defense can justify one nation’s invasion of another, he wrote in 1842, only if the ‘necessity of that self-defence is instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.’ … No serious observer thinks that Iran poses an imminent danger to the American people or U.S. territory.” (06/24/25)