11 Winter 2026 The International Court of Justice reached a similar conclusion in the Nicaragua case, where it noted the lack of evidence directly connecting the United States to armed attacks by the Contras against the Sandinista government, even though the United States had provided arms, money and training to the Contras: United States participation, even if preponderant or decisive, in the financing, organizing, training, supplying and equipping of the contras, the selection of its military or paramilitary targets, and the planning of the whole of its operation, is still insufficient in itself, on the basis of the evidence in the possession of the Court, for the purpose of attributing to the United States the acts committed by the contras in the course of their military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. All the forms of United States participation mentioned above, and even the general control by the respondent State over a force with a high degree of dependency on it, would not in themselves mean, without further evidence, that the United States directed or enforced the perpetration of the acts contrary to human rights and humanitarian law alleged by the applicant State. Such acts could well be committed by members of the contras without the control of the United States. For this conduct to give rise to legal responsibility of the United States, it would in principle have to be proved that that State had effective control of the military or paramilitary operations in the course of which the alleged violations were committed.5 Several commentators have criticized the Nicaragua “effective control” test as too strict, especially as it pertains to states providing weapons to non-state actors operating and fighting for them. The government of Austria, for example, advocated in 2013 for a standard based on State knowledge: “[s]hould supplied arms be used by armed opposition groups in Syria in the commission of internationally wrongful acts, the States who had supplied these arms and had knowledge of these acts would incur State responsibility for their aid and assistance in the commission of such acts.”6 As discussed above, the evidence here indicates Iran had a far more direct role in the Hamas attacks than the United States played in any of the Contra attacks in Nicaragua. The uncontroverted reporting from both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times demonstrates that Iran had knowledge of Hamas’s attack plans months in advance, and then green-lighted the attacks a few days prior to October 7. Moreover, Iran eventually joined the war against Israel directly, launching drone and missile attacks against the Jewish state on April 13, 2024, and October 1, 2024. Iran’s Complicity in the October 8, 2023, Hezbollah Attacks Against Israel Iran also bore responsibility for the Hezbollah attacks against Israel that began on October 8, 2023, and continued for many months. Hezbollah essentially functioned as an arm of the Iranian IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Command), taking orders directly from Tehran. The United States Congressional Research Service described Hezbollah in December 2024 as an “Iranian partner force.”7 In 2016, former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that Hezbollah’s “budget, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”8 Iran’s Foreign Minister travelled to Beirut to confer with Nasrallah on October 12, 2023, only a few days after Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel.9 5. Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 I.C.J. 14, ¶ 115 (June 27). 6. Jennifer Maddocks, “Israel-Hamas 2023 Symposium – Iran’s Responsibility for the Attack on Israel,” LIEBER INSTITUTE, Oct. 20, 2023, available at https://lieber. westpoint.edu/irans-responsibility-attack-israel/ 7 Clayton Thomas, Jim Zanotti, “Lebanese Hezbollah,” CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE, Dec. 4, 2024, available at https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/ IF10703 8. “Hezbollah's Record on War & Politics,” WILSON CENTER, Oct. 25, 2023, available at https://www. wilsoncenter.org/article/hezbollahs-record-war-politics 9. “Iranian FM met with Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in Lebanon,” JERUSALEM POST, Oct. 13, 2023, available at https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-768101
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=