CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The United States is Formally at War with Iran, At Least the Swiss Say So

Photograph Source: Benjamin D Applebaum – Public Domain

Why is the United States bombing Iran? The justifications presented for the jus ad bellum of Operation Epic Fury keep shifting: an imminent nuclear threat, security concerns, the need for regime change, and even political distractions such as the Trump-Epstein relationship. The legal basis is also not clear. At times President Trump has implied that the U.S. is at war with Iran—“We’re doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly.” Yet the conflict is usually presented as a “major military operation.” On one occasion, Trump even downplayed it further, calling the conflict “an excursion that will keep us out of a war.” There has been no formal U.S. declaration of war against Iran.

Switzerland has made a decision that the United States has avoided: for the neutral Swiss, the United States is at war. To be exact, while there is no formal public declaration phrased as “Switzerland declares the U.S. is at war with Iran,” Swiss authorities have officially treated the situation as an international armed conflict when applying their neutrality laws and policies.

Three weeks after the United States began bombing Iran, the Swiss Federal Council decided—citing Article 22a, Paragraph 2 of the Federal War Materiel Act—that exports of military equipment to the U.S. could not continue. “The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government announced on March 20. The Swiss also noted that they would continue to monitor and evaluate the situation, leaving open the possibility of future adjustments depending on developments in the conflict.

(In 2025, the United States was the second-largest export market for the Swiss arms industry. Switzerland exported 94.2 million Swiss francs (about $119 million) in military goods to the United States, including 39.8 million francs (about $50 million) in combat aircraft components. No definitive licenses for the export of war materiel to Israel have been granted for a number of years.)

Although the United........

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