If Russia Is an Aggressor, So Is the United States – JURIST – Commentary

The United States attacked two sovereign states in 2026 without Security Council authorization. Under the law Washington applies to Moscow, that is aggression.

The United States committed two acts of aggression in 2026—first against Venezuela, then against Iran—and no amount of political spin, strategic framing, or patriotic rhetoric changes that fact. If the world is willing to call Russia an aggressor state, it must be willing to say the same about the United States.

In January and March 2026, the United States launched unilateral attacks on sovereign UN member states without provocation, without self-defense, and without Security Council authorization. Under the UN Charter and the Rome Statute, these actions meet the definition of aggression — what the Nuremberg tribunal called the “supreme international crime.” This is not a matter of interpretation. It is not a matter of political preference. It is not a matter of strategic necessity. It is a matter of law. The United States did exactly what it has long condemned in others: it initiated war illegally.

The world has spent months dealing with the fallout—regional instability, economic shockwaves, diplomatic ruptures, and the collapse of Iran’s leadership. But focusing on consequences while ignoring the cause is a dangerous evasion. The United States did not stumble into conflict. It started it.

The January strike on Venezuela and the March escalation against Iran were not defensive actions. They were not humanitarian interventions. They were not responses to imminent threats. They were deliberate, unilateral uses of force. And force used without Charter authority or a valid claim of self-defense is aggression.

Washington has spent years condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a blatant act of aggression. That condemnation was justified. But the United States cannot claim moral authority while committing the same crime. Aggression is not defined by who commits it. It is defined by what is done. Russia breached the peace in 2014 and 2022. The United States breached the peace in 2026. Both states violated the UN Charter. Both states destabilized global security. Both states inflicted economic and political turmoil on the world.

The uncomfortable truth is that the United States now stands in the same legal category as the Russian Federation: an aggressor state.

The economic chaos that followed—energy shocks, disrupted shipping, market volatility—was not an accident. It was the predictable result of undermining the world’s collective security architecture. When a major power disregards the Charter, the entire system trembles. When the United States does it, the tremors become global. Washington has weakened the very order it once championed. It has undermined the credibility of international law. It has signaled that unilateral force is again acceptable. This is not leadership; it is destabilization.

The rule of law cannot be selective.

• A state cannot condemn aggression while committing it.
• It cannot claim to defend stability while initiating unlawful conflict.
• It cannot expect global cooperation while disregarding the legal constraints that bind all states.

If aggression is wrong when Russia does it, it is wrong when the United States does it. If accountability is necessary for Moscow, it is necessary for Washington. The UN Charter matters, and it must matter to all nations.

The United States committed two acts of aggression in 2026. That fact is not erased by geopolitical outcomes, military success, or political narratives. It is not softened by claims of noble intent or strategic necessity. It is not overshadowed by the chaos that followed.

Aggression is aggression, and the world must not forget who started these conflicts — and how.

David M. Crane is a global leader in international criminal justice and the founding Chief Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. He has spent decades shaping accountability mechanisms around the world, including serving as a driving architect behind the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Crane is a distinguished scholar of international law, a former senior US national security official, and a leading voice on the rule of law, state responsibility, and the legal limits on the use of force.