Deadly Iranian missile barrages likely flout key principles of laws of war
Casualties from Iran’s missile attacks have been almost exclusively civilian; many of Tehran’s missiles are highly inaccurate yet are fired at residential neighborhoods


Iranian barrages of hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel since the opening of direct hostilities overnight Thursday have taken a steep toll on the country, with 24 people killed and nearly 600 injured by the unprecedented bombardment.
The Iranian missiles have slammed into residential buildings in Bat Yam, Bnei Brak, Haifa, Petah Tikva, Ramat Gan, Rishon Lezion, Tamra and beyond, killing and wounding civilians while inflicting massive damage.
Some Iranian missiles have, however, apparently hit their intended targets, striking an oil refinery in Haifa, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, and other sensitive sites whose exact locations have been barred from publication in the Israeli press by the military censor.
Despite the fact that civilians have borne the overwhelming brunt of Iran’s attacks, there has been little condemnation so far by human rights organizations, the international community or the UN.
Israel, for its part, has directly accused Tehran of deliberately targeting civilians in its bombardment of residential neighborhoods in cities across the country.
And experts in warfare have made similar allegations, such as John Spencer of the Modern War Institute at West Point, who accused Iran of “lobbing cruise missiles from afar, hoping they hit their targets but are flattening apartment complexes with no military purpose.”

Meanwhile, the German Foreign Office said on Friday that it “condemn[s] the indiscriminate Iranian attack on Israeli territory.”
Given the severe level of harm to civilians in the Iranian barrages, is it possible that the massive ballistic missile attacks by Tehran could be considered legal under international law, or do they violate key principles of discrimination and proportionality, thus constituting war crimes?
This is awful to say and flat out wrong on so many levels. NO Israel is not "hitting Tehran residential areas" to punish civilians in Iran. Israel is hitting military targets that are in Tehran with precision munitions (some hitting the exact apartment on the exact floor the IRGC… https://t.co/5xVbwv1ieC
— John Spencer (@SpencerGuard) June 15, 2025
Distinction
Under the laws of armed conflict, it is only legal to attack military targets — be they military personnel or military infrastructure and equipment.
This is known as the Principle of Distinction, which is made explicit in the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which states that civilians “shall not be the object of attack.”
But it is also perhaps the most basic principle of what is known as customary international law — a set of international obligations in warfare arising from established practices considered incumbent on all nations, regardless of what specific treaties they have signed.

Distinction is listed as rule number one by the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) Customary International Humanitarian Law Database.
Targeting civilians
The Iranian regime and its armed forces have not made any specific statements about their targets in the barrages of dozens of rockets at a time fired at Israel, and have merely declared their intention to generally avenge Israel’s attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened the day after Israel’s opening airstrikes: “Life will definitely become bitter for the Zionists.”
Tam Mimran, associate professor at Zefat Academic College and senior research fellow at the Tachlith Institute, stated that Iran’s failure to explain what it is targeting in Israel in its missile barrages means that when evaluating the legality of the strikes, the intention of the attacks can be inferred from their results.
“So long as Iran does not explain its actions, we can definitely infer that they are targeting civilian buildings,” said Mimran, referring to the fact that the overwhelming majority of casualties have been civilians and the massive damage to civilian infrastructure.
Israel, for its part, does have a responsibility not to place its military installations and facilities among civilian populations in order to avoid endangering its own civilians when an enemy, such as Iran, attacks.
The location of the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in downtown Tel Aviv presents a serious problem since it is at the heart of an urban and civilian area, as are some other military bases around the country.
Proportionality
The laws of war do allow for the fact that civilians can be harmed during attacks directed at a military target, meaning that if Iran claimed that a missile attack was directed at a military target such as the Kirya but inadvertently hit a civilian site it would not necessarily be considered a violation of the laws of armed conflict.

But attacks must be proportional, meaning that the expected military advantage of a specific attack outweighs the expected harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure it might cause.
“If the missile will cause collateral damage to civilians that exceeds the purpose of the strike, then you can have a proportionality problem,” said Mimran.
Indiscriminate attacks
And then there is the requirement under the laws of armed conflict to abide by the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks, where the method or means of attack can either not be directed at a military target or cannot be limited to a military target.
This calls into question the use by Iran of its ballistic missile arsenal in general, since many of its missiles cannot accurately hit their targets within a range that could conceivably be directed at a military target, or be limited to such a target.
Iran’s arsenal has several missiles capable of hitting Israel, including the Emad and Ghadr missiles, which are believed to have been used in April and October 2024 attacks, as well as the barrages fired off since June 13 in the current conflict.
The Emad and Ghadr missiles have low accuracy, with the former having an accuracy of 500 meters from the intended target and the latter 300 meters, according to the Atlantic Council think tank and other institutions.

Even if Iran were to claim that it had targeted military sites in Bat Yam, Bnei Brak, Haifa, Petah Tikva, Ramat Gan, and Rishon Lezion, where civilians have all been killed, the fact that it uses such highly inaccurate munitions to carry out such attacks would almost certainly violate the principle of not conducting indiscriminate attacks.
Precaution
The use of such missiles in heavily populated residential neighborhoods would also seemingly violate the principle in the international law of precaution, also laid out in Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention, and another crucial component of customary international law as established by the ICRC.
The principle of precaution requires that states employ “constant care” to spare a civilian population from the harmful effects of attacks, and includes the use of precise weaponry to uphold this rule — something that the Emad and Ghadr missiles would manifestly violate in residential neighborhoods.
“Precaution also means the need to evaluate conduct based on your experience,” said Mimran. If Iran sees that its missiles are repeatedly missing their targets and killing civilians, then there is a requirement to “refine policy” and “understand that the weapon you are using is inappropriate to the target you are trying to hit,” she said.
“Human rights organizations and international forums discuss Israel’s type of munitions, the size of munitions, the way they are deployed, and other aspects of Israel’s attacks at length,” said Mimran, apparently referring to the IDF’s conduct in Gaza.
“When it comes to Israel, everyone talks about these issues all the time, when it comes to Iran, there is a deafening silence.”
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