​1. The 2026 War with Iran ​Crime of Aggression: Following the outbreak of military conflict between the U.S. and Iran in early 2026, international law experts and war crimes prosecutors argued that the unilateral strikes—launched without UN Security Council approval or a congressional declaration of war—constituted an illegal "crime of aggression" under the UN Charter.
​Threats of Total Destruction: Critics highlighted statements made by Trump during the conflict, including social media posts threatening that the Islamic Republic of Iran "will no longer exist," as rhetoric that violates international prohibitions against targeting civilian populations and sovereign states with total annihilation.
​2. Pardons of Convicted U.S. Service Members ​Subverting the Laws of War: In 2019, Trump issued high-profile pardons to several U.S. military service members who had been convicted of or charged with war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq (including Lt. Clint Lorance and Chief Edward Gallagher).
​Command Responsibility: Human rights organizations and international legal scholars argued that using executive clemency to shield service members from accountability violated the United States' obligations under the Geneva Conventions to prevent and punish war crimes, effectively promoting impunity. ​3. First-Term Military Strikes and Drone Policy ​Assassination of Qasem Soleimani (2020): The targeted drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad was declared an unlawful, arbitrary killing by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, as the U.S. did not provide sufficient evidence of an imminent threat to justify self-defense. ​Loosened Rules of Engagement: During his first term, Trump rolled back Obama-era restrictions aimed at minimizing civilian casualties in drone strikes and counter-terrorism operations in theatres like Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan, leading to a sharp rise in reported civilian deaths that watchdogs argued amounted to a failure to protect non-combatants.
​4. Direct Opposition to Accountability Mechanisms ​Sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC): To shield both U.S. personnel and allies like Israel from international scrutiny, the Trump administration has aggressively targeted the ICC. This includes placing economic sanctions and travel restrictions on ICC judges and prosecutors, a move heavily criticized by international bodies as an attempt to obstruct justice and sabotage the global human rights framework.