The exterminationist rhetoric that has accompanied Trump's massive bombardment of civilian infrastructure in Iran has been condemned by Amnesty International as possible incitement to genocide—a crime under international law. Can Trump join Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin as the next world leader to face charges before the International Criminal Court? Yes, if Iran follows Palestine and Ukraine in granting jurisdiction to the ICC for crimes committed on its territory. This is legally valid, despite intransigence from the United States, Israel and Russia alike. The next three convictions by the ICC could be the first of figures from outside the African continent—undermining accusations of a double standard that have hindered the Court's effectiveness. In Episode 322 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case—politically and practically—for sending Trump to a prison cell at The Hague.

After five weeks of war, the US and Iran on April 8 agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. Its basic details, however, and to what extent it will be implemented, are surrounded by uncertainty. A main sticking point is the question of whether Lebanon was included in the deal. Iranian and Pakistani officials are insisting it was, but the US and Israel say that it wasn't. Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out devastating attacks on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.

An apparent Israeli air-strike on the Iranian capital Tehran "completely destroyed" one of the city's synagogues, according to local media. Iran's Mehr news agency and the reformist Shargh media outlet said the Rafi-Nia synagogue was hit early on April 7. Footage appeared to show rescue workers searching through the rubble of the building, with Hebrew liturgical texts strewn on the ground. The strike came during the Jewish holiday of Passover. There was no immediate report of casualties.

Leaders of all the major Kurdish opposition parties in Iran denied that they have received weapons from the United States, after President Donald Trump said that Washington had sent arms to the Iranian protesters through the Kurds. "We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them," Trump told Fox News by telephone on April 5. "And I think the Kurds took the guns." He later reiterated to Fox on camera: "We sent guns, a lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people, so they could fight back against these thugs. You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them."

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned April 1 that repression of freedom of expression across the Middle East has deepened significantly since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran commenced at the end of February.

Amnesty International on March 17 called for those responsible for a US strike on an Iranian school to be held accountable.

The Feb. 28 strike on the girls' school in Minab, in southern Iran, killed over 100 children. Amnesty's Evidence Lab conducted an investigation into the strike, analyzing over 30 satellite images and reviewing official statements, independent media reports, and witnesses accounts.

As Trump and Netanyahu rain death down on Iran, the ayatollah regime paints any would-be protesters as pawns of the "enemy" and promises deadly repression. This positions the civil opposition poorly for any resumption of the uprising that the regime drowned in blood mere weeks ago—and points to the paradoxical reality that Trump and the regime are de facto (at least) collaborators against the Iranian people. In Episode 318 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg repudiates both those who would rally around the reactionary and criminal regime in the name of opposing the US-Israeli aggression and those who would rally around Trump's reckless and criminal war in the interest of opposing the regime. Instead, he offers statements from Iran's anarchist and dissident-left opposition that continue to advance an uncompromising neither/nor position.

United Nations officials said on March 10 that US and Israeli airstrikes on fuel depots in Tehran have released large amounts of toxic pollutants, producing acidic "black rain" across parts of the capital.