nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/80536ba5333de56f DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 260309s2026||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/80536ba5333de56f doi eng 342 23 Sari, Aurel Author aut Killing Khamenei - Did the Law of Armed Conflict Apply? Sari, Aurel Verfassungsblog 2026-03-09 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier In a recent post on this blog, Sophie Duroy and Luca Trenta have offered an important and timely analysis of the normalisation of assassination as a tool of Statecraft, arguing that the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026 represents “a new stage in the erosion of the international norm against assassination”. The concerns they voice are well-founded. The deliberate targeting and killing of a sitting head of State is a worrying precedent. In this post, I want to focus on one seemingly minor claim that runs through the Duroy and Trenta analysis: the assertion that Khamenei was killed “outside an armed conflict”. CC BY-SA 4.0 International Humanitarian Law Ius ad Bellum Ius in Bello Khamenei targeted killings US-Iran-War Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/killing-khamenei/ raw object