U.S. Congress Should also Vote Immediately on War Powers Resolution
(Washington, D.C., March 2, 2026) – The United States and Israel's unlawful military assault on Iran should immediately end, DAWN said today. In a letter sent today to the permanent missions of all UN member states in New York, DAWN called on governments to formally request an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly to declare the assault a war of aggression in violation of the UN Charter and to demand the immediate cessation of all hostilities. In a second letter sent to members of Congress today, DAWN urged both chambers to vote immediately on a War Powers Resolution to end a war they never authorized.
"No legal framework, international or domestic, can justify this US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran," said Omar Shakir, DAWN's Executive Director. "This war is patently illegal, and it must be stopped."
The U.S. and Israeli decision to go to war violates the foundations of jus ad bellum, the body of international law governing when a state may lawfully use force against another. Under UN Charter Article 2(4), all member states are prohibited from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state. There are only two explicit exceptions: self-defense under Article 51, or authorization by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII. Neither applies here. Article 51 permits self-defense only "if an armed attack occurs," and Iran had not attacked the United States. Even under the doctrine of anticipatory self-defense, the war is unlawful. Customary international law's Caroline doctrine requires a necessity that is "instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation." A weeks-long military buildup, combined with three rounds of talks that the Omani mediator described as a breakthrough the day before the attack, cannot satisfy that standard. No Chapter VII resolution authorized this war. The United States has initiated a war of aggression, which UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 defines as "a crime against international peace" and which the Nuremberg Tribunal, established by the United States itself, called "the supreme international crime."
"Let us be honest about what happened this weekend, because history will be rewritten quickly," said Sahar Aziz, DAWN Board Member and a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers Law School. "The United States and Israel unilaterally attacked a sovereign nation without legal justification under international law. Desiring regime change is not a lawful basis to start a war against another nation. If it were, then any country would be legally justified in attacking another merely because it opposes the government. Selective enforcement of international law makes the world much more dangerous."
U.S. and Israeli strikes also appear to violate core principles of jus in bello, the body of law governing how wars must be fought regardless of whether the decision to go to war was itself lawful. Under the Geneva Conventions and customary international law, parties to an armed conflict must distinguish between military and civilian objects and must not cause civilian harm disproportionate to anticipated military advantage. Both Israel and the US have a long track record of committing war crimes in armed conflict.
In southern Iran, a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan Province, killed 165 children and teachers. It was not immediately clear whether U.S. or Israeli forces were responsible for the bombing. The Geneva Conventions' Additional Protocol I Article 52(3) expressly names schools as presumptively civilian objects; the attacking party bears the burden of demonstrating military use, and no such showing has apparently been made or attempted. Hours later, in Lamerd, Fars Province, a missile struck the city's main sports hall while dozens of teenagers were inside for their regular volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics training sessions. Local officials confirmed at least 18 civilians killed, most of them children. The governor of Lamerd stated that US and Israeli forces fired missiles at the hall while students were playing inside.
Strikes on Tehran have also caused civilian harm. On the second day of the campaign, Gandhi Hospital in northern Tehran was struck. Geneva Convention IV Article 18 provides that civilian hospitals "may in no circumstances be the object of attack." Footage of the attack shows nurses evacuating newborn babies from the destroyed facility. No military use of the hospital has been alleged.
"The civilian impact of US-Israel strikes should not be dismissed as mere collateral damage—the attacks themselves should be investigated as war crimes," said Shakir. "It is impossible to conceive of any justification for bombing a girls' school, a sports hall full of teenagers, or a hospital providing care to newborns—the fact this all took place on the first day of the campaign underscores the urgency to end this war."
DAWN also sent a separate letter today to the Hague Group, a global bloc founded in January 2025 to take "coordinated legal and diplomatic measures" in defense of international law in the context of Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, to place the US-Israel assault on the agenda for their forthcoming meeting on March 4, 2026. The March 4 meeting will focus on enforcing international law against all states acting unlawfully and on pursuing concrete measures through ports, courts, and supply chains. The DAWN letter calls on the Hague Group to introduce a UN General Assembly emergency special session under the Uniting for Peace procedure.
"The UN Security Council is paralyzed because the United States will veto any resolution condemning its own actions," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director. "The Hague Group, or any member state, should introduce a UN General Assembly resolution declaring the U.S.-Israel assault on Iran a violation of the UN Charter and a war of aggression and call for it to immediately end."
The war is also clearly unlawful under U.S. domestic law. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole authority to declare war. The War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed over Nixon's veto, is explicit: the president may commit forces to hostilities without congressional authorization in only three circumstances: pursuant to a formal declaration of war; pursuant to specific statutory authorization; pursuant to a national emergency created by an attack upon the United States, its territories, or its armed forces. None of these conditions have been met.
Despite the Trump administration's half-hearted attempt to invoke an imminent threat as justification for a preemptive strike, Iran had not attacked the United States. Pentagon briefers acknowledged to congressional staff on March 1, 2026 that Iran was not planning to strike US forces or bases in the region unless Israel attacked Iran first, directly undercutting the White House's claim that Tehran posed an imminent threat. Hours before the strike, the United States was involved in direct negotiations with Iran and the mediator, the foreign minister of Oman, described a diplomatic breakthrough. There was no attack to respond to and no emergency that could not have been brought to Congress. Invoking yet another justification, Trump told the Washington Post on Saturday, February 28 that "freedom" for the Iranian people was his primary concern in launching this war.
"Foreign powers starting an illegal war, though, is not the way to support Iranians' aspirations for freedom and democracy," Shakir said.
Representatives Khanna and Massie have introduced H.Con.Res. 38 in the House, and Senators Kaine, Paul, and Schumer have introduced S.J.Res. 104 in the Senate. Both resolutions would direct the President to terminate the use of US armed forces in hostilities against Iran. The Senate and the House are expected to vote on the resolutions later this week. In its letter to Congress, DAWN urged members of both chambers to return to session immediately and bring these resolutions to a vote without delay.
Congress does not need to pass a resolution to establish that this war is unlawful. The law already does that. Under Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, Congress may direct the removal of forces at any time by concurrent resolution. Representatives Khanna and Massie have announced they will force a floor vote on H.Con.Res. 38, introduced in June 2025 with 84 cosponsors. Senators Kaine, Paul, and Schumer have introduced S.J.Res. 104 in the Senate under expedited War Powers procedures that bypass the filibuster. A congressional vote on H.Con.Res. 38 and S.J.Res. 104 would amount to a direct, binding order to President Trump, as the Commander in Chief, to end hostilities. Members of Congress should return to session immediately and vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 38 and S.J.Res. 104, as DAWN laid out in a letter it sent to all representatives and senators.
"Trump has dispensed with all constraints on executive power, launching a major war in the middle of the night without congressional authorization. Every member who votes against the Khanna-Massie War Powers Resolution is voting to give this president, and every future president, the unilateral power to start wars without the American people's consent," Jarrar said," Congress has the power to stop this war. The question is whether it has the will. History will record every vote."
