United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran (United States of America v Iran)

Facts

• On 4 November 1979, Iranian militants (students) stormed and occupied the US Embassy in Tehran
• They seized over 50 US diplomatic and consular staff as hostages
• The Iranian government initially failed to take any steps to prevent or end the occupation
• Ayatollah Khomeini subsequently endorsed the occupation and the hostage-taking became official state policy
• Iran declared it would maintain the situation until the USA met certain demands
• The USA brought proceedings before the ICJ; Iran did not appear

Issue

1. Whether Iran was internationally responsible for the seizure of the US Embassy and the detention of diplomatic staff, and whether Iran breached its obligations to protect diplomatic premises and personnel.

Held

• Iran was internationally responsible on two distinct bases
• Phase one: Iran breached its duty of protection by failing to take all appropriate steps to prevent the attack and to end it once it occurred
• Phase two: Iran's subsequent endorsement and adoption of the militants' acts transformed private conduct into acts of the Iranian state
• The inviolability of diplomatic premises and personnel under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) 1961 is absolute
• No circumstances (however serious the grievance) justify violation of diplomatic inviolability

Ratio Decidendi

The receiving state's obligation to protect the premises of a diplomatic mission and the persons of diplomatic agents is absolute. Initially, Iran was responsible for failure to fulfil its protective duty (omission). When the state subsequently expressly endorsed the ongoing violation and maintained it as state policy, the acts of the militants were transformed into acts of the state itself (attribution by adoption). Both bases independently establish state responsibility.