The United States military has joined Israel and attacked more than 1,000 targets in Iran and assassinated many of its top officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Below is a look the legality of the US attacks, which critics say exceed the president’s authority and fail to comply with international law.
What has Trump said?
US President Donald Trump has provided varying objectives and justifications.
He has said he felt Iran was going to strike first and the attack was meant to eliminate imminent threats to the United States, its military bases overseas and allies, although he did not provide details and some claims were not backed by US intelligence reports.
Trump also said Iran could obtain a nuclear weapon within one month, but he did not provide evidence, and this contradicted his claims in June that the US military had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.
