Potential US war on Syria will lack legitimacy: Iranian MP

A senior Iranian lawmaker says any potential US military action against Syria would be in breach of international law and the UN Charter, according to Press TV.

Washington seeks to legitimize its planned military strike on Syria by securing a green light from American legislators, but congressional approvals are considered legitimate only within the US system, said Hassan Sheikholeslam, an adviser to Iran’s Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on international affairs.

It is crystal clear that US President Barack Obama’s decision to attack Syria does not have international legitimacy, the Iranian parliamentarian said, adding that the UN Charter stipulates that countries are allowed to use coercion only under two circumstances.

Under the UN Charter, he said, military strikes are legal only in self-defense, viz. when a country is attacked, or if approved by the UN Security Council.

“Obama’s [plan for a] strike on Syria not only runs counter to [international] law, the UN Charter and the laws of war, but it will also be a move against human rights as it will entail the killing of people,” he pointed out.

He said the US has decided to resort to the strategy of war against Syria following the failure of the foreign-backed militants to defeat the Syrian forces.
The rhetoric of war against Syria first gained momentum on August 21, when the militants operating inside the Middle Eastern country and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that over a thousand people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the outskirts of Damascus.
The Syrian government has categorically rejected the accusation.

The UN, Iran, Russia, and China have warned against war.

R.S