MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Helen McEntee has insisted the government’s position on the US and Israel’s war in Iran is “clear”, but refused to say explicitly that they have breached international law. 

McEntee was speaking to reporters in Boston, where she was pressed by The Journal on whether the US, in particular, has breached international law by mounting its offensive against Iran. 

The Irish government has struggled with its messaging on the conflict, with no government minister willing to refer to the actions of the US or Israel in Iran as illegal.

Asked if she is willing to say that the US has breached international law, McEntee responded: 

“I mean, why are people pushing us to say something when we’ve been really clear that this doesn’t have a UN mandate and it doesn’t have the support of the Security Council.”

Asked then if that meant it is a breach of international law, the minister responded: 

“But what I’m saying, I mean, I think is kind of clear. The position is really clear here, from my perspective, it doesn’t have a UN mandate. So it’s clear what I’m saying there.”

It was put to the minister that when President Catherine Connolly issued a statement on International Women’s Day, which said the war in the Middle East constitutes “deliberate assaults on international law”, she was met with pushback from the government, with a spokesperson saying that the power to set foreign policy does not lie with the president.

Responding to this, the minister said she and the government agree with Connolly’s position.

“I’ve agreed with what President Connolly has said. I’ve agreed with everything that she said, and government agrees with what she said. So she actually hasn’t said anything different to I think what we have said,” the minister insisted.

“She said very clearly, and I saw on her postcard as well in the last few days that everybody should uphold international law. She hasn’t singled out any individual country, any individual State. She’s been very clear that Ireland has signed up to this and that we need to adhere to it. And we’re saying the same, so I think everybody is saying the same thing here.”

McEntee continued:

“What I’m saying is we can fixate and focus on a way in which something has been said, or we can actually focus on what Ireland is saying.

“And that is: we have to de-escalate, and that violence is not the way forward.”

The minister said that while she is in Boston for the St Patrick’s Day festivities, she will continue to relay Ireland’s call for de-escalation in the Middle East. 

Asked if the reason the government has refused to overtly say that there has been a breach of international law is because of a fear of blowback from the US administration, the minister said: 

“Well, I mean, we do have to look at things in the round. And certainly, I mean our relationship with the US is a really important one. That doesn’t mean that we can’t call it out when we believe that things are wrong.”