A top Vatican official warned Wednesday against the "erosion of international law" and the concept of a "preventive war" on Iran in comments that appeared critical of US-Israeli military action."This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force," Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV's number two as Secretary of State, said in an interview published on the official Vatican News outlet.
"If states were to be recognised as having a right to preventive war.... the whole world would risk being set ablaze," he said.
The US and Israel have justified military action as a way of destroying the potential missile and nuclear threat from Iran.
"A multipolarism marked by the primacy of power... is dangerously taking hold," Parolin added.
Asked about his view on US-Israeli action, he called for "diplomacy exercised within multilateral bodies, where states have the possibility of resolving conflicts in a bloodless and more just way".
Parolin's remarks are in line with past comments by US-born Pope Leo who on Sunday warned both sides against a "spiral of violence" in the Middle East.
In a New Year's message to diplomats at the Vatican in January, the pontiff said "war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading".
