The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signals the end to the US ban on political assassinations, write Luca Trenta and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi. And, they say, "it opens the door for other States to embrace the use of force to eliminate foreign adversaries."

Thanks, Martin Sandbu for featuring me in this @financialtimes.com story on decapitation.

International law is increasingly cast as an obstacle to “just wars” against dictators. CHRISTOPHER JANZ shows why this narrative serves as a justification for abandoning the law as a practice to legitimise political actions. verfassungsblog.de/tyrannys-use...

The Minab strike placed squarely before the public a key question: how does the law governing war protect civilians when the intelligence supporting a strike is wrong, and what legal consequences flow from getting it wrong? From Joseph Orenstein: www.justsecurity.org/134350/legal...

Since we now know that the timing of the strikes and broader attack aimed at killing the senior leadership, maybe we can do away with legal sophistry, and call this an assassination? Just a thought. www.reuters.com/world/middle...

‘The Israeli government wasn’t concerned with settling a political arrangement that would emerge on the “day after” – the lawn had to be burned to its roots.’ Online now from the next issue, Amjad Iraqi on the Israeli military playbook. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I have no idea how this war ends. Nothing I have seen suggests to me that anyone else does either.

Had me laughing and crying simultaneously. no01.substack.com/p/march-19-2...

The relationship between regime change and IHL is one of inherent tension, incentivizing battlefields where the law is viewed as an obstacle rather than an essential constraint. Gabor Rona urges the international community to resist this “sliding scale”: #IHL #regimechange #Iran #JusadBellum

Almost as if assassination is becoming normalised.

Not to be that person, but this is what happens when you make assassination a tool of foreign policy. Other states, including and especially those whose officials you targeted, can do the same. @lucatrenta.bsky.social and I wrote about it for @verfassungsblog.de: verfassungsblog.de/is-the-inter...

Nice to appear on @aljazeera.com Inside Story to discuss the war in Iran and the role assassination plays and has played in Israeli and US foreign policy.

An Unserious Justification for an Unnecessary War: Assessing the U.S. “Article 51” Letter to the U.N. on Iran War By @bcfinucane.bsky.social, former State Department attorney #IranWar www.justsecurity.org/134290/us-ar...

In our comment on this response to our recent post, @lucatrenta.bsky.social and I clarify that our argument concerns the international norm against assassination as understood in IR scholarship, not the existence of a specific treaty rule on assassination.

🚨 New publication Very happy to share that my article in @globcon.bsky.social has now been published open access. You can read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S204...

#OpenAccess from @globcon.bsky.social - When intelligence accountability backfires: How states’ strategic legal justifications undermine international law - https://cup.org/4cEedPg - @sophieduroy.bsky.social#OpenAccess #FirstView #IntLaw

🚨 New publication Very happy to share that my article in @globcon.bsky.social has now been published open access. You can read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S204...

While not an international lawyer, and I would love to hear from one, I find this analysis obscene. If anyone can start an illegal war and - all of a sudden - kill whomever they want, then what’s the point of international law? @justsecurity.org www.justsecurity.org/133171/ayato...

I do not think we, as lawyers, should engage in doctrinal exercises that end up making a case for the legality of surprise decapitation strikes between states not otherwise engaged in an armed conflict Especially when the strike at stake remains unlawful under jus ad bellum and, therefore, unlawful.

I do not think we, as lawyers, should engage in doctrinal exercises that end up making a case for the legality of surprise decapitation strikes between states not otherwise engaged in an armed conflict Especially when the strike at stake remains unlawful under jus ad bellum and, therefore, unlawful.

What does the assassination of Khamenei tell us about existing international norms against assassination? @lucatrenta.bsky.social and I wrote for @verfassungsblog.de about the erosion of the norm and its likely grim future should other states' protests remain muted.

What does the assassination of Khamenei tell us about existing international norms against assassination? @lucatrenta.bsky.social and I wrote for @verfassungsblog.de about the erosion of the norm and its likely grim future should other states' protests remain muted.

This is an insightful analysis on erosion of international norms. It seems to me that on much of news reporting on international law the point gets lost: the erosion of norms does not only affect the 'bad man' but every one of us.

“Reactions by other states to Khamenei’s assassination will be decisive for the [norm against assassination’s] future trajectory.”

An important article - in an era of asymmetric warfare and dramatic power imbalances on the world stage, Western democratic leaders, so often in public, will likely come to regret the degradation of the norm against Head of State/Govt assassination by other states much more than autocrats will...

@sophieduroy.bsky.social and I have a new piece out in @verfassungsblog.de reflecting on the moribund state of the international norm against assassination. Decades of routisination and legitimation have made assassination an available tool of foreign policy, even against heads of state.

The US and Israel have assassinated a sitting head of state. SOPHIE DUROY and LUCA TRENTA on Khamenei’s killing and the normalisation of assassination as a tool of statecraft. verfassungsblog.de/is-the-inter...

Over 400 job cuts and a plan to close Southend Campus. Nine more strike days at the University of Essex.. We will keep fighting. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1442...

Moments of Collective Joy, to quote the one and only Lynne Segal.

We're still facing 400+ job losses, the loss of a campus, the closure of our foundation year department, and many more departments cut to the bone. Please sign our petition to help stop the cuts, save jobs, and defend our students' education!

My recent research is featured on @universityofessex.bsky.social research blog. A short-form reflection on strategic legal justification and international law in security contexts. www.essex.ac.uk/blog/posts/2...

Excellent piece by @sophieduroy.bsky.social @lucatrenta.bsky.social. I disagree only that if US “no longer feels compelled to justify its actions in legal terms, other states—especially authoritarian regimes—are likely to follow suit”. Instead 🇨🇳🇷🇺 already cynically claim guardianship of int. law.

When people talk about the idea that some universities must go under, there’s a certain tendency to behave as if these smaller local campuses are negligible- regrettable casualties perhaps but not ‘real’ universities. This report does a great job of illustrating why that’s wrong.

It's also a reminder of the consequences of pandering to the 'legitimate concerns' about immigration of the 'left behind' - not least for 'left behind' areas.

Devastatingly sad. Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support

some further context to this excellent piece: we have still not seen any modelling on how closing Southend campus will improve the overall finances long-term and what the costs may be and, unlike the other cuts, this has been presented as a done decision in the middle of a teaching day in December

Incandescent. One of the best pieces I've read about what university means to people and their communities - and what will happen to a city and people after one closes. The *Labour* government and Jaqui Smith in particular should be ashamed of themselves and shamed into doing something. Deplorable.

Cutting 400 jobs at the University of Essex would hit students, teaching, research and the wider community. Closing the Southend campus would be devastating for the town. Staff strike 12–19 Feb. Join the rallies: 5 Feb Southend an 12 Feb Colchester (12–1pm). Info ⬇️

“Closing Southend means losing homegrown social workers people who understand this community.” Join us this Thursday as we rally to stop the cuts and save Southend’s campus. 🕛 12:00–13:00 | 📍 The Forum, Elmer Square, Southend

Non-justification forecloses contestation. A legal argument can be challenged, rebutted, or rejected. This asymmetry is particularly destabilising in the realm of the use of force, where legal constraints depend heavily on public claims and counter-claims. verfassungsblog.de/venezuela-us...

Useful teaching resource @verfassungsblog.de for week on 'is international law really law': "Even when states bend the law, its constraining force persists as long as they continue to argue within it." qv Judith Shklar on hypocrisy as not the worst crime. verfassungsblog.de/venezuela-us...

Unearthed a paper I abandoned 3 years ago. Cut 50 words by deleting all the "thus". Growth.

Trump captured Maduro, skipping even perfunctory legal justification. SOPHIE DUROY and LUCA TRENTA on why even hypocritical arguments better sustain international law's norms. verfassungsblog.de/even-hypocri...

New on @verfassungsblog.de with @lucatrenta.bsky.social Using the Maduro raid as a starting point, we argue that abandoning legal justification may be more damaging to international law than stretching it. In short: long live hypocrisy. verfassungsblog.de/even-hypocri...

400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close. This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it. 📍 Southend rally | 5 February

Powerful warning by @sophieduroy.bsky.social & @lucatrenta.bsky.social on the U.S.'s lack of even trying to engage with international law re the Maduro snatch operation. verfassungsblog.de/even-hypocri...

Haven't made much of my recent Orwell obsession, yet. But at least, it helped give a catchy title to this. Brilliant work mostly by @sophieduroy.bsky.social on this.

Clearly argued and to-the-point article by @lucatrenta.bsky.social and @sophieduroy.bsky.social on the #Maduro kidnapping and the "rules of the international game"...such as they are, these days. Made me think about Michael Poznansky's work on US covert action, too.

New on @verfassungsblog.de with @lucatrenta.bsky.social Using the Maduro raid as a starting point, we argue that abandoning legal justification may be more damaging to international law than stretching it. In short: long live hypocrisy. verfassungsblog.de/even-hypocri...

Reposting our CfP for Supernatural Law: Regulating the Paranormal as the deadline nears. If the post below made you think “surely someone should write about this…”, this could be your sign to do it ✨ Deadline: 13 January 2026. @joelcolonrios.bsky.social