Are you suggesting that we should take moral cues from our enemies?
Or that normalizing peacetime assassinations won't have an obvious destabilizing effect?
Or that normalizing peacetime assassinations won't have an obvious destabilizing effect?
War is war. There is nothing nice about it. All these these morals are only carried out 'because you can afford them' not because you have to.
At one time, in war, one spared enemy commanders, that was nice for when the upper ranks were from the elite and you ransomed them off or traded. Today, this is not the case. I don't see a lot of daylight between these two things.
Israel pushed the Obama administration into having no negotiations with Iran wrt nuclear power in a bid to force military intervention. This is despite the fact that Israel itself is one of only four nations (including India, Pakistan, and North Korea) who is not an NPT signatory but has nuclear weapons nonetheless. Ironically, this backfired because by forcing the issue, Obama made it a priority to establish formal relations with Iran on nuclear power, but the intention was still there to isolate and demonize Iran. And then in 2013 when AIPAC lobbied hard for military intervention in Syria. And again in 2015. If anyone is urging their “insurgents” towards war, it is Israel, not Iran, who not only complied with the terms of JCPOA, but exceeded them. And again, even though Raisi is criticizing the US for waging war via sanctions, Iran’s official position is still to negotiate a new nuclear agreement in eventual hope to join the NPT (something Netanyahu specifically tried to avoid in the terms of JCPOA).