Trump threatens war crimes in Iran: "An entire civilization will die tonight"
In the final hours of the ultimatum's countdown, the United States and Israel continue to bomb civilian infrastructures in the Persian country
WashingtonDonald Trump's ultimatum to unleash "hell" on Iran has entered the final countdown. Although the United States has been bombing bridges and power plants for days, the president has redoubled his threats to commit war crimes with a massive attack on civilian targets. "An entire civilization will die tonight, beyond recovery. I don't want this to happen, but it probably will," he wrote this Tuesday in a message on Truth Social, in which he assured that "47 years of extortion, corruption, and death will finally end." This is said by the president of a country that has existed for 250 years, compared to more than 2,000 years of Persian legacy.
"Perhaps something revolucionarily wonderful will happen. We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world," he added. This evening at 8 p.m. (Washington time, 2 a.m. in Catalonia) is the deadline the US president has set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If it does not, he assures that he will attack all of the country's infrastructure. Iranian authorities have reported suffering simultaneous attacks on bridges, power plants, and train stations.
Hopes for straightening out the situation before the clock runs out are visible. In response to the president's new escalation, the regime has stopped all official diplomatic contacts with the US, as revealed by the Wall Street Journal. Nevertheless, mediating countries, such as Pakistan, are still working against the clock. US sources tell Axios that progress is being made towards negotiations, despite there still being a long way to go. On Monday, Trump dismissed the 45-day ceasefire proposal presented by the mediating countries.
Speculation about what this threat to destroy an entire civilization will mean has been fueled by the Trump administration itself. Vice President JD Vance, from an event in Hungary, reminded the Iranians that "they [the Iranians] should know that we had many tools and we have not yet decided which one we will use." In parallel, the White House has publicly denied that these "tools" involve any kind of use of nuclear weapons. In his appearance, it is noteworthy how Vance told the regime that "what we want is a world where oil and gas flow freely, where people can afford to heat or air condition their homes[...]". Before Washington and Tel Aviv bombed Tehran on February 28, this world that the Republican now claims already existed.
Concern among military commanders
Although Trump will not be the first US president to commit war crimes, he is the first who has explicitly shown himself open to doing so. Yesterday, at the grandiloquent press conference to narrate the rescue of the US pilot, the president acknowledged that he is not worried "at all" about committing war crimes, if after the deadline he has set, the ayatollahs' regime has not reached an agreement with the US and has reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Attacking civilian infrastructure is considered a war crime according to the Geneva Convention. Internally, Pentagon legal experts are already looking for new targets that can justify that they also have a military use to try to cover their backs, according to reveals Politico. But the generals' concern does not seem to be the same as Trump's.
The republican's repeated threats in recent days with a clear will and awareness of inflicting harm on the civilian population are difficult to evade. Yesterday Trump also stated that the Iranians would be "willing to suffer" the hell he has threatened them with if it ultimately secures their freedom. Previously, via Truth Social, the republican had also insisted that the US would hit "every single one of the country's power plants" and would also "blow up" desalination plants. These infrastructures are vital to guarantee water to the more than 90 million people who live in the country, and destroying them would entail enormous collective punishment.
"These rhetorical statements —if carried out— would amount to the gravest war crimes, and therefore the president's statements place government members in a profoundly difficult situation," wrote two former Judge Advocates General (JAG) officers, Margaret Donovan and Rachel Van Landingham, yesterday on the Just Security website. War crimes would not only fall on the commander-in-chief, i.e. Trump, but also on all members of the chain of command who contribute to their execution. Since the Nuremberg trials, obeying orders is no longer an excuse to escape responsibility.
The string of recorded publications and statements are explicit enough to demonstrate punitive intent, according to former JAG officers. Both Trump's assertion of returning Iran to "the Stone Age," and that of Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, of not "giving quarter, nor showing clemency" are not only "clearly illegal," but also represent a break from the moral and legal principles by which military personnel have been "trained to follow throughout their careers."