{"id":315706,"date":"2026-04-09T04:49:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=315706"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:19:53","slug":"are-trumps-iran-threats-and-attacks-war-crimes-what-international-law-says-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/are-trumps-iran-threats-and-attacks-war-crimes-what-international-law-says-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Trump\u2019s Iran threats and attacks war crimes? What international law says – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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U.S. President Donald Trump\u2018s announcement late Tuesday of a two-week ceasefire with Iran appears to have narrowly prevented threats that international law experts say could have amounted to war crimes if carried out.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire got here lower than two hours before a Tuesday evening deadline set by Trump, who had warned earlier within the day that \u201can entire civilization will die tonight\u201d if Iran did not strike a deal that included reopening the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

That message got here after he threatened to explode every bridge and power plant in Iran and vowed to bomb the country \u201cback to the Stone Ages, where they belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite walking back the threat \u2014 no less than for now \u2014 international law and even Pentagon policy suggest Trump\u2019s increasingly hostile threats by themselves potentially violate the laws of war.<\/p>\n

If widespread attacks against Iran\u2019s \u201ccivilization\u201d and civilian infrastructure are ever carried out, experts and ex-military members add, it could be a \u201cclear\u201d war crime \u2014 a priority Trump dismissed in a press conference Monday.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday made clear the military was able to follow through on Trump\u2019s threat if a deal hadn\u2019t been reached, and had a listing of targets that included power plants, bridges and energy infrastructure that Iran \u201ccouldn’t defend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were locked and loaded,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cPresident Trump had the ability to cripple Iran\u2019s entire economy in minutes, but he selected mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump\u2019s comments Wednesday while celebrating the ceasefire as a \u201cvictory\u201d for the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the questions on the president\u2019s rhetoric, but what the president cares probably the most about is results, and in truth, his very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you just are all witnessing today,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n

Jason Dempsey, a U.S. army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and later as special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former U.S. president Barack Obama, called Trump\u2019s dismissal and rhetoric \u201cflat-out horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be nothing positive in any respect to say about this, and it’s a willful ceding of even a pretense of attempting to hold on to the moral high ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tWhat does international law say?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters Monday that attacking civilian infrastructure is banned under international law.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven when specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective,\u201d he said, \u201cinternational humanitarian law would still prohibit attacks against them if they could be expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

That principle is specified by the 1949 Geneva Conventions<\/a> that established international humanitarian law. Every country, including america, is a signatory to those treaties.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the U.S. has not adopted the 1977 additional protocol to the conventions<\/a>, which specifically prohibits attacks or destruction of anything considered \u201cindispensable to the survival of the civilian population,\u201d including agriculture, drinking water, infrastructure and other essentials.<\/p>\n

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The extra protocol also outlaws threats of widespread violence that may spread terror inside a civilian population.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the U.S. Defense Department\u2019s manual for the laws of war<\/a> does explicitly forbid such threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasures of intimidation or terrorism against the civilian population are prohibited, including acts or threats of violence, the first purpose of which is to spread terror among the many civilian population,\u201d the manual, which was last updated in 2023, says.<\/p>\n

Iranians each inside the country and abroad in countries like Canada reacted with fear to Trump\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon manual also acknowledges the U.S. military is usually urged to respect international treaty rules that even they or an enemy combatant should not party to, \u201csince the treaty represents \u2018modern international public opinion\u2019 as to how military operations ought to be conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Robert Goldman, a professor of international law and human rights at American University, said it\u2019s \u201cvery difficult at this stage to disentangle negotiation from threat,\u201d noting past presidents have used a \u201ccarrot and stick\u201d approach in diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have to take the source into consideration,\u201d he added. \u201cThis man (Trump) isn’t a standard president. This man isn’t a diplomat, to place it mildly.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Trump ever carried out his attacks on civilian infrastructure in the way in which he was threatening this week, Goldman said, \u201cI might haven’t any problem in reaching a conclusion that we\u2019re coping with wanton destruction and we\u2019ll be war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach appears to be one which is motivated by spite, by revenge,\u201d he added. \u201cThat’s destruction for destruction\u2019s sake: \u2018You won\u2019t do what I let you know to do, I’ll obliterate your capability to operate as a state.\u2019 That isn’t allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tHas the Iran war seen war crimes?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

War crimes are generally defined as \u201cserious\u201d violations of international law, including the Geneva Conventions, in keeping with bodies corresponding to the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the International Red Cross.<\/p>\n

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The Pentagon\u2019s law of war manual notes that \u201clongstanding U.S. military doctrine\u201d is to define war crimes as \u201cany violation of the law of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an open letter earlier this month<\/a>, greater than 100 international law experts within the U.S. said there have been \u201cserious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes\u201d by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

The launching of the war itself, they argued, violated the United Nations Charter<\/a> because Iran didn’t pose an imminent threat \u2014 something Prime Minister Mark Carney has also suggested. The Trump administration has disputed this with conflicting justifications.<\/p>\n

Multiple international law and UN experts have suggested the strike on an Iranian girl\u2019s school on the primary day of the war, which killed no less than 175 civilians \u2014 most of them schoolchildren \u2014 could also be a violation of international law.<\/p>\n

A preliminary U.S. military investigation into the strike on the varsity, which was near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Naval Forces compound, found it likely occurred resulting from outdated intelligence and was not deliberate, The Associated Press has reported.<\/p>\n

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