What is international law and is international law really considered law? the answer to these questions can be found in the examples of different international resolutions. Some of these examples of cases where the law was followed and respected can be characterized as law, as demonstrated by the examples in New Zealand v. France with the bombing and sinking of the Greenpeace ship. Another example can be seen in the case of Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America, in connection with the United States' shooting down of an Iranian commercial airliner. There is also an example in the case of New Zealand v. France where the law was not respected and therefore could still be considered law. International law is a set of legally binding rules intended to govern relations between sovereign states. (Cornell Law School) To be a qualified subject, a state must be sovereign. To be considered sovereign, the state must have a territory, population, and government recognized or legitimized by most other states. In a more modern explanation of international law, one can now include the rights and obligations of international intergovernmental organizations and even individuals. Examples of an international organization would be Greenpeace or the United Nations and an example of an individual would be war criminals, a leader of a state who violated human rights during wartime. When a dispute arises and cannot be resolved between the two actors involved, they can turn to the UN to arbitrate and to the International Court of Justice, one of several tribunals within the UN, to find a solution. solution to their problem. The main task of the International Court of Justice is to help resolve legal disputes submitted to it by states and...... middle of paper ......April 04, 2014)Ed. Rajaee, Farhang. 1993. The Iran-Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. International Court of Justice. 1989. Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/79/6623.pdf. (Accessed April 4, 2014)Pugh, Michael.1987. “Legal Aspects of the Rainbow Warrior Case.” The Quarterly Review of International and Comparative Law Vol. 36 (No. 3): 655-669.Rainbow Warrior. 1990. New Zealand v. France. France-New Zealand Arbitration Tribunal. http://www.iilj.org/courses/documents/RainbowWarrior.pdf (accessed April 6, 2014). Veitch, J. (2010). A sordid act: the Rainbow Warrior incident. International Review of New Zealand, 35(4), 6-9.Wright, Robin. "Iranian boats may not have made radio threat, Pentagon says." Washington Post. January 11,2008.