HRW - US: Trump Threatens War Crimes Against Iran
(Washington) – United States president Donald Trump’s public threat to attack Iranian sites of cultural importance would be war crimes if carried out, Human Rights Watch said today. The US government should immediately clarify that the US will at all times comply with the laws of war.
Amid escalating US-Iran tensions following a January 3, 2020 US drone strike in Iraq that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Trump tweeted on January 4 that as a warning to Iran, the US has “targeted 52 Iranian sites … some at a very high level & important to Iran & Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
“President Trump should publicly reverse his threats against Iran’s cultural property and make clear that he will not authorize nor order war crimes,” said Andrea Prasow, acting Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “The US Defense Department should publicly reaffirm its commitment to abide by the laws of war and comply only with lawful military orders.”