An American nonprofit organization that supports democracy and human rights in the Middle East is calling on the United Nations to hold a special emergency meeting to put an end to the "illegal" Iran War.
Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Democracy for the Arab World Now, or DAWN, wrote a letter to UN representatives on Monday, March 2, formally requesting an emergency special session of the General Assembly to declare the United States and Israeli military actions “a war of aggression in violation of the UN Charter and to demand the immediate cessation of all hostilities.”
“The Security Council is unable to make that determination because the United States, as a permanent member and a party to the conflict, will veto any resolution. The General Assembly should act in its place,” Jarrar wrote.
In remarks to Military.com provided on Tuesday, Jarrar said he hadn’t yet heard any response from the UN or its representatives, adding that they plan to do individual outreach to key missions in the coming weeks.
DAWN also sent a message on Monday to the Hague Group, in anticipation of their March 4 emergency session. Jarrar said they will be following up with their representatives this week.
No legal framework, international or domestic, can justify this U.S.-Israeli war of aggression against Iran. This war is patently illegal, and it must be stopped. - Omar Shakir, DAWN's executive director, in a statement
DAWN was launched in September 2020 under the auspices of Saudi Arabian journalist and dissident activist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated on Oct. 2, 2018, by agents of the Saudi government at the nation’s consulate and at the discretion of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Following varied explanations for Khashoggi’s death, a Saudi official said the killing was premeditated. The explanation did not square with U.S. authorities. A little over a month after Khashoggi’s murder, the CIA called the death an assassination.
'Telling' Remarks on Iran Justification
“The shifting justifications from D.C. are not just a communications problem; they are a legal problem,” Jarrar said. “Under international law, the basis for using force must exist at the time of the attack. It cannot be swapped out afterward.
Jarrar was asked by Military.com about what have been viewed as contradictory statements emanating from the White House on the timing of this war and what led to the initial strikes being OK’d at this particular time, with different accounts told since Saturday by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump cited an imminent nuclear threat. Rubio said the U.S. knew Israel wanted to strike and joined proactively. Those are not variations on the same argument.
Rubio has attempted to walk back remarks he made Monday to the press at Capitol Hill, where he said the U.S. “knew that there was going to be an Israeli action" against Iran. The U.S. “knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces" by the regime.
"And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties ... And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn't act," Rubio added.
Trump on Tuesday refuted scrutiny associated with Rubio’s remarks, saying the decision was his and had nothing to do with what Israel or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested. So far, six American service members have been pronounced dead.
Still, Rubio’s remarks drew heavy consternation from significant contingents of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) base that has been vocal on social media and otherwise about U.S.-Israel relations and the lack of an appetite for war.
Jarrar called Rubio's statement in particular “telling.”
“If the U.S. joined because Israel wanted to strike first, that is a war of choice—not self-defense,” Jarrar said. “The UN Charter does not authorize wars of choice. The fact that senior officials cannot agree on why this war started five days in is itself evidence that no coherent legal justification existed when the bombs fell. It strengthens our call for an emergency General Assembly session.”
US Influence on UN
The letter addressed to the UN calls the ongoing conflict “unlawful” based on the existing charter, citing Article 2(4) which states that all member states are prohibited from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state.
The only two exceptions are self-defense under Article 51 in response to an armed attack, or authorization by the Security Council under Chapter VII. As Jarrar wrote, “Neither applies here.”
“Article 51 permits self-defense only ‘if an armed attack occurs,’ and Iran had not attacked the United States or Israel,” he wrote. “Even under the doctrine of anticipatory self-defense, the war is unlawful.”
He also called the UN Security Council “paralyzed” due to the U.S. ostensibly vetoing any resolution condemning its own actions, adding that a resolution adopted in 1950 could challenge that doctrine and the Grand Assembly could convene an emergency special session within 24 hours of a vote to make appropriate recommendations if necessary.
Such a procedure requires a request supported by a majority of member states, 97 of 193, which harkens back to 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine and 141 states voted in a special session to condemn Russia and demand withdrawal.
Shortly thereafter, the UN General Assembly did the same pertaining to escalating violence between Israel and Palestine in Gaza.
“The obligations that charter creates do not become optional when it is a powerful state that violates them,” Jarrar wrote. “A legal order that constrains Russia in Ukraine but exempts the United States in Iran is not international law–-it is the law of power.
“Every member state that declines to act when the Charter is violated by a veto-wielding power makes that charter less binding for everyone, including for themselves. The obligation to act collectively in the face of a breach of the peace belongs to every member state equally.”
In February 2025, DAWN submitted a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate former U.S. officials including President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for "aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.”
