A United Nations human rights expert said military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran breach international law, as fighting between the three countries escalated across West Asia.
The comments followed coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian targets on Feb. 28 that Washington and Tel Aviv said were aimed at degrading Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities. Tehran responded by targeting U.S. bases in the region, widening the confrontation and raising concerns about regional stability and civilian safety.
Mai Sato, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the attacks amounted to a violation of the U.N. Charter because they were carried out without authorisation from the U.N. Security Council.
“Illegal military intervention is neither a solution to the nuclear issue nor a response to the human rights situation in Iran,” Sato wrote on social media, urging all parties to exercise restraint and respect international law. She added that it was “the right of the Iranian people to shape their own future.”
The escalation comes against the backdrop of long-running tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme, which the United States and Israel say poses a security threat, a charge Tehran denies, insisting its programme is for civilian purposes.
Sato also linked the current crisis to Iran’s internal situation, noting that protests in December 2025 were met with a violent crackdown in which a number of demonstrators were killed. Those protests reflected “genuine and legitimate demands” by the public, she said.
“Any solution that focuses solely on the nuclear programme while ignoring the legitimate demands of the Iranian people – and the violent suppression they faced – fails to address why people took to the streets in the first place,” she added.
The Special Rapporteur said she was closely monitoring the human rights impact of the conflict, particularly its consequences for civilians and critical infrastructure.