NEWS & VIEWS
New York State of Mind: Israel – U.S. Aggression Against Iran
17 April 2026
“And he loves Israel too. Six years ago, I was up here and I said this is our first Jewish president.”
Mark Levine at the White House, 16 December 2025.
“Over nearly three hours, the two leaders discussed the prospects of war and even possible dates for an attack, as well as the possibility — however unlikely — that President Trump might be able to reach a deal with Iran. Days later, the U.S. president made clear publicly that he was skeptical of the diplomatic route, dismissing the history of negotiating with Iran as merely years of ‘talking and talking and talking.’ Asked by reporters if he wanted regime change in Iran, Mr. Trump said it ‘seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.’”
Mark Mazetti et al, “How Trump Decided to go to war”, New York Times, 2 March 2026.
“Life as an opinion columnist would be easy if every war you had to take a stand on were the American Civil War and every leader were Abraham Lincoln”.
Thomas Friedman, “How to think about Trump’s War with Iran”, New York Times, 2 March 2026.
Introduction
The illegality of the Israeli-American war on Iran launched on 28 February 2026 is indisputable. It is a crime of aggression that included other grave violations of international law. The war exposed not only Israel’s strategic inferiority but also the provinciality of its Jewish population. In the United States, the war was immediately met with opposition and skepticism in large segments of the country’s social and political formations.[1] In Israel, on the other hand, the government and the Israeli Jewish population believed that they are finally on the right side of history, the evidence being America’s wholehearted enlistment to fight the just war. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has not captured their attention, nor did it matter to Trump and his ample Israel lobby fellows. Israeli President Herzog praised the war at an exclusive interview with the newly energized CBS network, and Yair Lapid tried to appeal to the ‘western’ public opinion through the pages of The Economist in traditional Mapai propaganda. The world public opinion was either opposed to the war, apathetic, or appallingly reluctant, like several countries in the European Union, chief among them Starmer’s Britain.
It is impossible to avoid relating to the unappealing character of the American President Donald Trump. His unstable nature’s effects are infused by his partly casino upbringing and real-estate deal-making. Playing tough in negotiations and a constant display of good cop / bad cop charades[2] in international relations have produced nothing but anticipation for the end of his tenure. Shortly before the war, Stephen Walt described Trump’s foreign policy as that of a predatory hegemon.[3] Trump’s blind loyalty towards Israel through the Kushner family[4] and the rest of the Israel lobby’s political apparatus in the United States has alienated even key segments of his conservative political base.[5]
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times casually supported the war, selecting comfortable facts, disregarding many others, and most importantly, misrepresenting his blunt motivation. His lack of adherence to any notion of legality in international affairs in the newspaper that is supposed to grant American foreign policy a sense of legitimacy is obscene, as his neglect of Israel’s perpetration of genocide in Gaza, colonial character, and apartheid essence since before Ben Gurion took office. Israel is a country, according to Friedman, that is struggling for democracy.
Friedman’s newspaper’s Editorial Board, however, opposed the war on flimsy grounds, as did Ken Roth in The Guardian. Roth advanced clear legitimating aspects for the war, premised on a petulant and inaccurate factual basis. His approach continued to be better than Harvard’s Human Rights Program under the leadership of Martha Minow’s ally Gerald Neuman, who has been pushing for a certain agenda away from captivating issues internationally. All avoided denoting the Israel lobby’s push for the war, while Harvard’s Minow guard persists in a defiant mode of denial. Former Jerusalem Post editor and current New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote about the case for attacking Iran on 22 February 2026, a few days before the actual commencement of the illegal aggression. Since then, he sought to contain its unfavorable strategic effects for Israel.
Israel’s influence on launching the war is difficult to conceal. In normal times, its significant presence through various components of the American Jewish community in the political, cultural, and academic scenes of the United States is considered natural and welcomed by some. During a joint illegal war, marginalizing its role is unpersuasive. U.S. intelligence agencies detected no imminent threat from Iran, which does not justify resorting to war as a primary option.[6] Nevertheless, Trump asserted during a press conference on 9 March 2026 that:
In my opinion, based on what Steve and Jared and Pete and others were telling me, Marco and so were involved, that I thought that they were going to attack us.[7]
Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby could not explain on 3 March 2026 to Senator Angus King what was the reason for America joining the war with Israel other than saying “it’s Trump’s decision”.[8] Senator King suggested that the United States was relegating the most important foreign policy decision to another country, Israel. Vice President Vance opposed engaging in the war.[9] Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent resigned in protest of the war against Iran, stating that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”[10] Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, a brazen extension of the Israel lobby, negotiated unprofessionally with Iranian officials about Iran’s purported nuclear program shortly before the war,[11]and most probably in bad faith.[12]
As of writing this essay, a temporary ceasefire has been declared. Israel’s strategic predicament has been potentially accelerated, considering its standing following its genocide in Gaza. Whether this strategic blunder would materialize to be a catalyst for realizing Israel’s dissolution and the establishment of a genuinely adequate constitutional polity that realizes the rights of Palestinians depends on the relevant political and other actors domestically and in the United States.
Israeli – American Prior International Law Violations against Iran
Israeli – American international law violations against Iran are numerous and hideous. On 13 June 2025 Israel launched an illegal attack against Iran, also amounting to a crime of aggression that lasted for 12 days. Relying heavily on the Air Force, Israel’s attack backfired, given Iran’s precise retaliation that quickly demoralized the Israeli military and population, almost bringing the country to its knees. Only after the Trump administration joined the attack on Iran illegally because of Israel’s pleadings through its proxies in the United States, did the war reach its end.
Iranian scientists have been assassinated by Israel’s agents, as reported by NBC News exceptionally and critically in 2012[13] and enthusiastically by Haaretz throughout the years.[14] Local Israeli reporter and New York Times correspondent Ronen Bergman wrote a book about the subject reviewed with acclaim in his foreign host newspaper the New York Times. Hillary Clinton, a top Israel lobby sympathizer, delisted Israel’s murderous trainee from the State Department's terrorist organizations list.[15]
The New York Times regularly reported about sporadic joint Israeli–American attacks against Iran with no commentary on its international law-violating features.[16] CIA instigated disturbances in Iran in the best tradition of the Cold War era,[17] while senior National Security Officials led by John Bolton called for toppling the Iranian regime.[18]
Common imperial foreign policy tool under the cover of advancing good,[19] Trump accelerated sanctions[20] against Iran after abolishing the international agreement reached between Iran and six international powers regarding its scientific program.[21]Iranian resolve and ingenuity enabled the country to confront the sanctions’ crippling effects.[22]Trump’s Israel-motivated [23] hostility towards Iran led him to order the killing of an Iranian general, almost instigating another illegal and unjust war in the Middle East.[24]Sheldon Adelson, one of Trump’s main financial political patrons and a central Israel cause promoter in the Republican party, called for dropping an atomic bomb on Iran.[25]
Crime of Aggression
Israel and the United States committed a crime of aggression by launching a war against Iran. There was no justification for the war that violated every legal rationale for using force in international affairs. It was not in self-defense, not authorized by the U.N. Security Council, and it was not a humanitarian intervention. A clear violation of the United Nations Charter and of article 8bis of the International Criminal Court’s Statute that constitutes customary international law.
Trump repeatedly said that the aim of the war is regime change.[26] He also used other expressions of intent that demonstrate the crime of aggression and the perpetration of war crimes. The contours of committing the crime of aggression have been undeniably met. The seriousness of the crime of aggression cannot be underestimated. As one international tribunal declared many years ago, the crime of aggression is the “supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
From shortly before the war, Trump’s vocabulary left no doubt as to the intent to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity both by the U.S. and Israeli armies. On 13 February 2026, Trump announced that regime change in Iran 'would be the best thing’.[27] On 1 April 2026, Trump declared that “we are going to hit them extremely hard for the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Age where they belong.”[28]A few days later, on 5 April 2026, Trump warned he could target every power plant in Iran.[29] On 7 April 2026, Trump escalated his expressions of criminal intent even more, proclaiming against Iran that “a whole civilization will die”.[30]
U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth said early in March 2026 that the U.S. and Israel would rain down death and destruction on Iran.[31]U.S. Department of War declared on 6 March 2026 that ‘We are delivering twice the airpower of shock and awe and seven times the intensity of Israel's 12-day war’.[32] American – Israeli criminality throughout the war has been preposterous. Civilians and civilian objects have been intentionally targeted on a large scale. Individual criminal responsibility is attached to the chains of command of both governments and militaries.
On the first day of the attack, a primary school was struck, killing more than 180 people, mostly school girls between the ages of 7 and 12. Trump claimed that Iran was to blame for the killings, mildly contradicted by Hegseth, who said that the matter is under investigation. Hegseth’s commitment to the rule of law, even in the limited sense of military lawyering, is abundantly scarce.[33]Various IT excuses and mistake in fact defense had been provided for the deadly attack. Responsibility for this atrocity is evident.[34]
Another war crime committed on the first day of the illegal war that constitutes a manifestation of its nature and character is killing Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khaminaei. A civilian figure and an important religious authority for millions of Shia Muslims worldwide, there was no justification to target him. Assassinating him was supposed to send a message to Iran that the war is about regime change, bound by no rules of war. Israel carried out this murder based on information provided by the CIA. Both the American and Israeli governments are responsible for this heinous crime. According to the New York Times:
The U.S. and Israeli governments had been planning to begin their assault at night. But the C.I.A., which tracked Khamenei for months, learned that he would be in the same compound as other top Iranian officials on Saturday morning. So the two countries changed their plans. Israeli warplanes took off just after 6 a.m. local time; less than three hours later, the explosions began, killing Khamenei and other officials.[35]
The U.S. and Israel expected a quick triumph against Iran, given the onslaught they unleashed. Nearly 1500 civilians were killed by the U.S. and Israel in Iran in the first month of the war.[36] Iran responded with regular, admirable insubordination. The result was more illegal attacks against Iranian civilians and civilian infrastructure. Experts contradicted U.S. officials about targeting a sports hall in Lamerd and killing civilians.[37] Iran’s schools and hospitals were systematically targeted, raising a solid basis for committing crimes against humanity.[38] At least 30 Iranian universities were bombed by the senseless American – Israeli campaign.[39]Iranian resilience drove the aggressors to damage infrastructure essential for the population, such as bridges, steel plants, and structures linked to the health sector.[40]
Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff. Source: Le Monde, 28 January 2026.
Trump, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Rubio at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Source: Reuters, 28 February 2028.
Hegseth and Caine. Source: Axios, 2 March 2026 CENTCOM’s Cooper. Source: Responsible Statecraft, 15 July 2025.
Senator Angus King questions Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby. Source: CBS News, 3 March 2026.
New York Times’s Bret Stephens. Source: Times of Israel, 20 April 2017.
Yitzhak Herzog. Source: CBS News interview, 4 March 2026. Yair Lapid. Source: Jerusalem Post, 2 February 2026.
Katz, Netanyahu, and Zamir at an Air Force base. Source: Prime Minister's Office, 3 March 2026.
Conclusion
Iran’s sturdy response to the American – Israeli aggression demonstrated the limits of America’s power on the international stage, joined by lobbying Israel. It is not the first time that the United States has initiated an illegal war in the Middle East since September 2001. Each war has produced its lessons, but one element in American politics and culture remained the same: Israel’s supporters’ advocacy for the war or concealing it intellectually and artistically.
United States relations with foreign affairs have always been tense and filled with contradictions. Noble rhetoric, ruthless financial vision, and covert destructive actions. Its little ally Israel is worse, having accumulated only the negatives of America’s behavior, lacking any sincere internal dynamics of debate, checks and balances, and real democratic values, being concerned only with the survival of Zionism and its inherent colonial and apartheid quintessence.
Trump represents a rare galvanization of the evil substance of both countries. Malicious, self – absorbed, and boundless Trump is the ultimate democratically elected dictator. His term has a few more years. By now, the challenges ahead should not surprise anyone.
[1] The U.S. Congress has not authorized the use of force by Trump and the army under the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Democrats’ attempts to invoke such authorization were repeatedly thwarted, demonstrating the war’s illegality from an American law perspective and its unpopularity with the American public. See Eric Lau, “How Every House member voted on blocking Trump from striking Iran”, Washington Post, 16 April 2026. JINSA issued an explanatory note justifying the war. See Matt Kennedy, Historical Precedents for Trump’s War Powers, JINSA, 16 April 2026.
[2] Andrew Roth, “The ‘enormous conflict of interest’ at center of Jared Kushner’s Gaza ceasefire deal”, The Guardian, 19 October 2025.
[3] Stephen Walt, "The Predatory Hegemon: How Trump Wields American Power." Foreign Affairs, March/April 2026.
[4] See Nolan Mccaskill, “Top Israeli diplomat: We would ‘welcome’ Jared Kushner”, Politico, 30 November 2016. See also Justin Elliot, “Trump’s Patron-in-Chief”, Pro-Publica, 10 October 2018; Derek Seidman, “From AI to TikTok to TV, This Pro – Israel Billionaire is Expanding Power in US”, Truthout, 11 October 2025; Ryan Grim et al, “Larry Ellison Vetted Marco Rubio for Fealty to Israel, Hacked E-mails Reveal”, Drop Site, 2 October 2025.
[5] Alexander Cockburn, “Turning Point: How the GOP consensus on Israel Cracked”, Harper’s Magazine, January 2026.
[6] Michael Birnbaum et al, “Push from Saudis, Israel helped move Trump to attack Iran”, Washington Post, 28 February 2026.
[7] Donald Trump News Conference on Iran War, C – Span, 9 March 2026.
[8] Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby’s statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee, CBS News, 3 March 2026.
[9] Diana Nerozzi et al, “Vance was ‘skeptical’ voice in White House on Iran strikes”, Politico, 13 March 2026.
[10] Seung Min Kim et al, “Top counterterrorism official Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat”, Associated Press, 17 March 2026.
[11] U.S. Arms Control Association, U.S. Negotiators Were Ill-Prepared for Serious Nuclear Negotiations with Iran, 11 March 2026.
[12] James Genn, “CENTCOM chief briefs Trump on military options against Iran, source tells 'Post'”, Jerusalem Post, 27 February 2026.
[13] Rock Center with Brian Williams, “Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News”, NBC News, 9 February 2012.
[14] Yossi Melman, “Despite the Blow to Morale, Iran Will Find a Nuclear Scientist Just as Talented as the Assassinated Fakhrizadeh”, Haaretz, 28 November 2020; TOI Staff, “Mossad expert, ex-spies outline planning, challenges of targeted killings”, Times of Israel, 5 December 2025;
Yossi Melman, “In the Shadow of Assassinations: Iran Accelerates Nuclear Program”, Haaretz, 24 July 2011.
[15] Scott Shane, “Iranian Dissidents Convince U.S. to Drop Terror Label”, New York Times, 21 September 2012.
[16] Ronen Bergman et al, “Blackout Hits Iran Nuclear Site in What Appears to Be Israeli Sabotage”, New York Times, 11 April 2021; Ben Hubbard et al, “Iran Rattled as Israel Repeatedly Strikes Key Targets”, New York Times, 20 April 2021; Ronen Bergman et al, “Israel Launched Drone Attack on Iranian Facility, Officials Say”, New York Times, 29 January 2023; Farnaz Fassihi et al, “Iranian Officials Suspect Sabotage in String of Mysterious Fires”, New York Times, 23 July 2025.
[17] Elaine Scilino, “C.I.A. Asks Congress for Money to Rein In Iraq and Iran”, New York Times, 12 April 1995; Erika Solomon et al, “Pro-American Kurdish Forces Are Preparing Possible Iran Incursion”, New York Times, 4 March 2026.
[18] Nilo Tabrizy, “M.E.K.: The Group John Bolton Wants to Rule Iran”, New York Times, 7 May 2018.
[19] Daniel Drezner, “The United States of Sanctions”, 100(5) Foreign Affairs, pp.142-154.
[20] Edward Wong, “Trump Imposes New Sanctions on Iran, Adding to Tensions”, New York Times, 24 June 2019.
[21] Mark Landler, “Trump Abandons Iran Nuclear Deal He Long Scorned”, New York Times, 8 May 2018.
[22] See, for example, Human Rights Watch, “Maximum Pressure”: US Economic Sanctions Harm Iranians’ Right to Health, 2019.
[23] Eli Clifton, “Trump’s biggest donors will continue to shape hawkish GOP foreign policy”, Responsible Statecraft, 7 November 2020.
[24] Julian Borger, “US kills Iran general Qassem Suleimani in strike ordered by Trump”, The Guardian, 3 January 2020.
[25] Maya Shwayder, “Adelson: US should drop atomic bomb on Iran”, Jerusalem Post, 24 October 2013.
[26] Amelia Nierenberg, “Trump Claims ‘Regime Change’ in Iran Is Already Complete”, New York Times, 30 March 2026.
[27] Harry Sekulich, “Trump says Iran regime change is 'best thing that could happen'”, BBC, 14 February 2026.
[28] Trump Statement, 1 April 2026, C-Span: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HdQyGPoxhks.
[29] Meridith McGraw, “Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview”, Wall Street Journal, 5 April 2025.
[30] Alexander Ward, “Trump Warns Iran ‘Whole Civilization Will Die’”, Wall Street Journal, 7 April 2026.
[31] Lazar Berman et al, “Hegseth: Iran is ‘toast’, and the US and Israel will rain down ‘death and destruction’”, Times of Israel, 4 March 2026.
[32] David Vergun, Pentagon News - This Week in DOW: Delivering 'Shock and Awe' to Iran, Defense Leaders' Declaration, Updates on AI, 6 March 2026.
[33] David Ignatius, “The chilling reason the military is silent now”, Washington Post, 19 September 2025; U.S. Department of War, Hegseth Calls for Assessment, Alignment of DOW Legal Functions, Operations, 11 March 2026; Elen Mitchell, “Hegseth orders ‘ruthless, no-excuses’ review of military legal offices”, The Hill, 12 March 2026.
[34] Amnesty International, Those Responsible for Deadly and Unlawful U.S. Strike on School that Killed Over 100 Children Must Be Held Accountable, 16 March 2026.
[35] Adam Kushner et al, “Killing Iran’s Leader”, New York Times, 1 March 2026.
[36] Alex Horton et al, “Nearly 1,500 Iranian civilians killed in U.S., Israeli strikes, report says”, Washington Post, 27 March 2026.
[37] Merlyn Thomas et al, “Experts dispute US account of deadly Iran sports hall strike in Lamerd”, BBC, 3 April 2026.
[38] Leanne Abraham et al, “Iran’s Schools and Hospitals in Ruins, Times Analysis Shows”, New York Times, 9 April 2026.
[39] Katherine Hearst et al, “How Iran's universities became a target of US-Israeli attacks”, Middle East Eye, 12 April 2026.
[40] Ghazal Golshiri et al, “US and Israel increasingly target Iran's civilian infrastructure”, Le Monde, 5 April 2026.
