After the US bombing of Iran, if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to kill Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei he will be in breach of executive order 12,333, which states explicitly that “no persons employed by or acting on behalf of the US government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination” (“Trump calls for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’” June 17).
Executive order 12,333 was issued by then president Ronald Reagan on December 4 1981 after the US was involved for decades in many assassinations or attempted assassinations of world leaders.
An assassination of Khamenei would also be in violation of the UN Charter, which in article 2(4) states: “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN.”
What is urgently required in the Middle East is a nuclear weapon-free zone, which obviously must include Israel. If Trump can focus on this objective and succeed he will leave a legacy that is worthy of a Nobel peace prize, something he craves.
A Middle Eastern nuclear weapon-free zone would advance the cause of nuclear disarmament, adding to the Antarctic Treaty, the Treaty of Tlatelolco (Latin America and the Caribbean), the Treaty of Rarotonga (South Pacific), the Treaty of Bangkok (South-East Asia), the Treaty of Pelindaba (Africa) and the Treaty of Semipalatinsk (Central Asia).
Gunvant Govindjee
Ormonde
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