Fordow

‘Fordow’ is the name of a village located in the mountainous Qom province in North-West Iran. It is also the site of a former nuclear enrichment plant which is likely to become familiar among students of international law. On the 22nd of June this year the US military targeted Fordow and other facilities at Natanz and Isfahan. These American operations were the latest example in an accelerating erosion of international legal constraints on states’ use of force. This decline carries implications for all states and one which should be of particular concern to the Australian Government. * Compliance with conditions which justify a modern ‘right to war’ or jus ad bellum is a familiar concept...