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The nearly four months of war killed at least 7,300 people in Iran and Lebanon.

Israel, the other belligerent, has lashed out at Washington over the deal, while continuing to attack Lebanon. The Israeli cabinet’s harsh words towards Washington led to a strong rebuke from US Vice President JD Vance. In an initial sign of the still-rocky road ahead, Vance’s trip to Switzerland on June 19 for talks on implementing the deal was abruptly cancelled.

Despite—or possibly because of—the signing of the MoU, which is supposed to include an end to fighting in Lebanon, the fighting there has flared again. The Israeli military reportedly killed 18 people in south Lebanon overnight on June 18-19. The rash of air-strikes followed Hezbollah’s killing of four Israeli soldiers in a southern Lebanese village, prompting furious statements from politicians such as Israeli’s extreme-right interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said “all of Lebanon must burn.”

Meanwhile, Amnesty International released a report finding that Israel has dramatically expanded its mass “evacuation” orders as well as “don’t come back” orders, which it says “have been used as a deliberate tool to forcibly displace civilians” and prevent many of them from returning home. This, the rights watchdog says, amounts to “unlawful transfer,” which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime.

From The New Humanitarian, June 19. Lightly edited; internal links added.

Image: Pixabay

Since the mass protests in Iran earlier this year, the Baluchistan region has been flooded with Revolutionary Guard troops. On the same day as the violence in Pashmouki, a Baloch youth was killed by Revolutionary Guards in unclear circumsatnces in Saravan, in the neighboring province of Sistan & Balochistan. Two days earlier, another Baloch youth was killed by Iranian border guards, apparently while attempting to re-enter the country from Afghanistan, to where he had been improperly deported. The traditional Baloch homeland is divded between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with many Baloch unable to get citizenship papers from any of these three governments, and left effectively stateless. (Hengaw, Hengaw, Hengaw, Gunaz, Balochistan Pulse, Express-Tribune, Express-Tribune, Pakistan)

Map: PCL

The statement warned that AI systems embedded in kill chains are accelerating the speed and scale of military assaults in ways that undermine foundational principles of humanitarian law, including distinction, proportionality and precaution. The signatories said that claimed safeguards such as “human in the loop” mechanisms cannot prevent the lethal consequences of AI-accelerated targeting, but instead risk becoming a means of “rubber-stamping” killing at greatly accelerated speed and scale.

The coalition pointed to US strikes on Iran earlier this year as an example, noting that AI tools for target generation enabled strikes on nearly 2,000 targets within the first 48 hours of the campaign. In Gaza, Israel deployed AI targeting tools including Lavender, Gospel and Where’s Daddy, which the statement said may “contribute to the obfuscation of international crimes behind a veneer of perceived algorithmic objectivity.”

The statement named several major technology companies. OpenAI has agreed to provide AI services to the US Department of Defense (DoD), and Google has contracted with the DoD to develop prototype frontier AI capabilities for war-fighting. Anthropic’s Claude large language model has reportedly played a role in supporting US attacks on Iran. The statement noted a standoff between Anthropic and the US government over the military use, as well as an open letter signed by more than 560 Google employees in April urging the company to refuse classified military AI use.

The signatories urged tech companies to refrain from contracts with agencies that commit violations of international law, and to halt AI decision-support systems for targeting. They called on states to end AI use in military targeting and to provide transparency on how it is currently being deployed in combat. The statement noted that Amnesty International wrote to both OpenAI and Anthropic on their human rights policies regarding generative AI in military contexts; only OpenAI had responded at the time of publication.

From JURIST, June 15. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Image: Andrew West via Pixabay

The statement came as PJAK Presidential Council member Siyamend Moini was in Brussels to deliver a speech before a conference at the European Parliament entitled “Weaving a Democratic Iran Together.” In his comments, Moini called for international support for the “reconstruction of a free, democratic, and secular Iran that consistently defends women’s rights, the rights of peoples and minorities, and environmental protection.” (ANF)

Image: Middle East Forum via Wikimedia Commons

The resolution calls upon states to comply with the obligations set out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), giving legal force to the non-binding advisory opinion issued by the UN high court in July 2025. Pursuant to the UNGA resolution, countries now have a duty under international law to take all possible steps to avoid contributing to climate change.

Vanuatu, in collaboration with other Pacific island nations, drafted the proposed resolution earlier this year, urging countries to consider the impacts their greenhouse gas emissions have on small nations. These nations are among those facing the largest burden of climate change, such as extreme weather events, crop failure, and sea level rise, despite their lack of a significant contribution to global warming.

However, following negotiations amongst the states, the text of Vanuatu’s resolution was altered significantly. Notably missing from the adopted draft was the “International Register of Damage” provision, which would have created the duty to maintain a “comprehensive and transparent record” of evidence of damage attributable to climate change.

Nevertheless, under this resolution, states may be required to compensate injured nations for any damage they contribute to in violation of ICJ-mandated climate obligations.

In a statement after the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated that those contributing the least to climate change are “paying the largest price” for its effects. He also indicated the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, stating:

The science is clear: fossil fuels are the principle driver of the climate crisis. The path to climate justice runs through a rapid, just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

The resolution’s text also affirms that states need to do their part to keep global temperatures from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target set out by the Paris Climate Agreement that would require a rapid decline in fossil fuel emissions to achieve.

Despite an overwhelming 141 votes to adopt the resolution, eight countries were in opposition, including three on the list of the 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters globally: the United States, Russia and Iran. Also voting against were top oil producers such as Saudi Arabia.

Following the resolution’s adoption, Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations Tammy Bruce issued a highly critical statement opposing the resolution and challenging its legality. Bruce said that the ICJ’s “unfounded” view that states have a legal duty to prevent global transboundary harm is legally incorrect. He also rejected the notion that “climate change is an unprecedented challenge of civilizational proportions” as politicized and alarmist.

In the US, the Trump administration has vocally opposed the idea that climate change is a serious global issue, and has continued to roll back climate protections within the country. Following Vanuatu’s proposed resolution, the administration pressured the small nation to withdraw its draft due to its potential to “pose a major threat to US industry.”

In spite of the pushback from major emitters, Guterres described the resolution’s adoption as a victory for the planet, calling it an advance for climate justice and for holding states accountable for their actions.

From JURIST, May 22. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Note: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a similar ruling last year. See our podcast on the ICJ and IACHR rulings, “Meanwhile, the planet is dying….”

Photo: NASA via Flickr

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