ZURICH/FRANKFURT: The United States and Israel have broken international law with their attacks on Iran, Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister said in an interview published on Sunday, the latest European leader to raise concerns about the conflict.
Legal experts have said many countries will consider the attacks unjustified under the United Nations Charter, under which member countries must refrain from using force or the threat of force without UN authorization or unless acting in self-defense.
“The Federal Council is of the opinion that the attack on Iran constitutes a violation of international law,” Pfister told SonntagsZeitung, referring to the Swiss cabinet.
“In our view it constitutes a violation on the prohibition of violence,” he added, calling on all parties involved to halt the fighting to protect the civilian population.
Violation of international law
Pfister said he was referring to all the countries not complying with the prohibition on violence, including the United States and Israel.
“The Americans and Israel have attacked Iran from the air. In doing so, they, like Iran, violated international law,” Pfister said.
The comments chime with those of German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who told the RND newspaper network that he had “serious doubts that this war is legitimate under international law.”
Klingbeil also came out strongly against the idea of any potential German participation in the war: “I say clearly: this is not our war. We will not participate in this war.”
He said there was a “great danger that we are sliding ever deeper into a world where there are no longer any rules. We do not want to live in a world where only the law of the strongest applies.”
Spain has also denounced the US and Israeli bombings of Iran as reckless and illegal.
US-Israel attacks on Iran breach international law, Swiss defense minister says
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US-Israel attacks on Iran breach international law, Swiss defense minister says
- Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister is the latest European leader to raise concerns about the conflict
- Pfister said he was referring to all the countries not complying with the prohibition on violence
North Korea and China to resume passenger train service after six-year gap
- China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week
- The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation”
SEOUL/BEIJING: Tickets for the first passenger train in six years from Beijing to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, were sold out ahead of its March 12 departure, an official ticketing office in Beijing said on Tuesday.
The resumption of the rail service, suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, revives a critical transport link between the largely isolated North Korea and its primary economic ally.
Tickets for the journey — restricted to travelers holding business visas — were purchased by entrepreneurs, government officials and reporters, according to the Beijing ticketing office. Tickets were still available for the next service, scheduled for March 18.
NORTH KOREA STILL LARGELY CLOSED TO TOURISTS
China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week in both directions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday while Dandong-Pyongyang trains will run daily.
The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual well-being and friendship,” the notice said.
North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organizing trips to the country.
Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said. Tour organizers said on Monday that North Korea had canceled next month’s Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.
