created Monday, 2025 June 16
original at cybertiggyr.com/2025ivi.html
| when | links | what |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-07-14 | ccc | Iran signs the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA), a treaty to monitor & manage Iran's development of nuclear power (not weapons). Negotiation was facilitated by Barack Obama, president of the USA at that time. |
| 2018-??-?? | ddd | Donald Trump, in his 1st term as POTUS, withdraws the USA from JCPA. |
| 2024-11-?? | ggg | A report compiled by USA intelligence for the Biden administration says that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons. |
| 2025-03-25 | hhh, iii, mmm | USA's director of national intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard, part of the Trump administration), declared that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. |
| 2025-04-?? | Donald Trump, in his 2nd term as POTUS, declared that negotiations with Iran about their nuclear program were under way. | |
| 2025-06-12 | aaa | UN-backed atomic watchdog declared that Iran is not complying with its obligations regarding nuclear non-proliferation. (Notice that this was building for more than a month, though it was not mentioned in any of the news that I consume until June 12. See bbb.) |
| 2025-06-13 | Israel attacks Iran with the stated goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. | |
| 2025-06-?? | eee, fff | Multiple organizations condemn Israel's attacks as violations of international law. |
| 2025-06-19 | hhh | US President Donald Trump claims that Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) was wrong when she claimed in May that Iran is not creating nuclear weapons. |
| 2025-06-21 | USA President Donald Trump orders bombings on the 3 main sites of Iran's nuclear activities (Fordow, Natanz, & Esfahan). The bombings take place. (This may have violated many laws of war. See ooo.) | |
| 2025-06-21 | jjj | USA President Donald Trump claims that the bombings were successful in destroying Iran's capability to create nuclear weapons. Trump says that Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities were “completely & totally obliterated”. |
| 2025-06-22 | nnn | USA & Israeli militeries claim that Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities were not “completely & totally obliterated”. However, in a briefing Sunday morning, top Pentagon officials echoed President Trump's claims of success, while also saying the final assessment would take time. Gen. Dan Caine, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the initial assessment indicated that all three sites sustained “severe damage and destruction,” but added that it was too soon to say whether Iran retained some nuclear capability. |
Did US Presient Donald Trump's attacks on Iran violate laws?
Not justified under international self-defense doctrine. (See ppp.)
The attack is an act of war but did not follow a declaration of war.
Trump did not notify the “gang of 8”, a group of 8 Congressional leaders, including members of both parties. (See qqq.)
Trump did not obtain a declaration of war nor an authorization for use of military force. (For invading Iraq, George W. Bush obtained an authorization for use of military force.)
It appears that JCPA, the treaty from 2015, was working, but Donald Trump ended it for no clear reason (other than his own Obama-hating ego). At least twice (March & April of 2025), the Trump administration implied that there was no danger from Iran's nuclear program & that a treaty was forthcoming. It appears that Donald Trump created the current problem & then twice reported that there was no danger; we now know that there was danger. Donald Trump created a problem & then read the situation incorrectly.
After the United Nations declared in 2025 June that Iran was in violation, surely discussion & sanctions or other corrective action would have followed, but Israel attacked the next day. There was no urgency: Iran was enriching weapons-grade uranium, a prohibited activity, but it requires time to construct weapons from that. There was no urgency. It appears that Israel used the UN's declaration as an excuse to start a war.
When it comes to creating problems from nothing, this is all part of the usual Donald Trump script.
When it comes to asymmetric violent response to a slight, followed by claims of victim-hood, this is all part of the usual Israel script.