Iran warship attack ‘didn’t violate international law’
Legal experts say the deadly attack by a U.S. submarine on an Iranian warship did not violate international or American military law, but it is not yet clear whether the submarine took adequate precautions to save survivors.
At least 87 people died and 32 Iranian sailors were rescued after the submarine torpedoed IRIS Dena in international waters near Sri Lanka.
Marko Milanovic, professor of international law at the University of Reading in Britain, said that although attacks on Iran were overall a “clear violation of the UN charter”, Dena was a “clear military target”.
Milanovic said, “Targeting a military ship is not a war crime.” he said.
The Australian government confirmed on Friday that three Australians were on the submarine that sank IRIS Dena.
The Australians were there as part of a tripartite training program by the US, Australia and the UK under the AUKUS security agreement.
The Indian government said IRIS Dena had just participated in naval exercises hosted by India and was heading to international waters on its way home.
But neither its location far from the war zone nor its presence for joint naval exercises affected the legality of the attack, said Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a retired lieutenant colonel who served as the attorney general for the U.S. Air Force.
“It doesn’t matter that it didn’t fire at that time,” he said of the Iranian ship. “It is important that it can be used to open fire on American military assets.”
However, what happened after the torpedo hit the ship may cause concerns.
“The attack may not have violated the law of war, but that’s just the beginning of the analysis,” said Brian Finucane, who served in the State Department’s Office of Legal Counsel for a decade. “What happens after the attack is another matter.”
International humanitarian law says the United States must take “all practicable measures” to assist in the search and roundup of injured or shipwrecked people.
U.S. naval forces have the same obligation under Pentagon rules outlined in the Department of Defense’s Laws of War Manual. But “practical limitations”, including cramped quarters of a submarine, may require it to alert other ships, aircraft or nearby authorities to the location of possible survivors, the manual said.
Bringing people inside a submarine, one of the U.S. Navy’s most heavily guarded platforms, also poses problems.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that after the attack, the US contacted Sri Lankan officials and provided them with the location of the ship for search and rescue efforts.
Sri Lankan foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that her country’s navy received a distress signal from the stricken ship and sent ships and aircraft on a rescue mission.
However, navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said that when the Sri Lankan navy reached the area there was no trace of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts”. “We found people floating on the water.”
