Indices Affecting Detection of Imminent Military Threats and Legal Reactions to Threats in International Law

According to Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations, it is forbidden to threaten to use force in international relations. This regulation refers first to the illegal military threats; however, the Charter mentions nothing about the characteristics of such threats. Since there are certain terms such as Preemptive defense that justifies the use of force due to the possibility of an imminent military threat, it is apparently essential to identify the indices affecting the detection of imminent military threats. This study aims to determine the characteristics of an illegal military threat. In fact, how can an imminent military threat be differentiated from a passive military threat? A descriptive analytical approach was adopted in this study to give a reasonable answer to this question. The answer was provided through the research findings emphasizing six indices: proximity, the time required to operationalize a threat, a threatening entity’s identity, the domain and area of a threat, the target of a threat, and the level of international relations. Reviewing some international documents and agreements, the authors finally proposed legal strategies for dealing with illegal military threats within the framework of international law.