He has written:
In international law, “abuse of process” refers to the improper or bad-faith use of legal procedures or rights for purposes that are inconsistent with their object and purpose.
It arises when a state or actor exploits procedural mechanisms to pursue ulterior objectives, such as exerting political pressure, delaying obligations, or inflicting reputational harm, rather than genuinely resolving a dispute.
Even when an action is made to appear formally lawful, it constitutes abuse if it is instrumentalized for purposes contrary to the spirit of the legal framework or carried out in violation of the principle of good faith, as codified in Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
The E3 threat to invoke the so-called “snapback” against Iran falls squarely within this definition.
