The Iran war defies hope for an early de-escalation despite conflicting reports of backchannel diplomacy. It is a tragic confirmation of the impotence of the post-1945 international legal order to preserve peace when confronted with such an exercise of hard power. US President Donald Trump’s Venezuelan adventure and tariff wars attest to the collapse of what remains of the architecture of international law codified by the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions and other treaties. A necessary corollary of this nuanced approach would be to ensure adherence to a stricter international legal regime as a guardrail against the imperial exercise of power. We must ensure that India is not “acquiescent” in unconscionable unilateralism in a world that must recognise the imperatives of multipolarity and multilateralism.

Source: Indian Express March 31, 2026 11:42 UTC