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war crimes
Iran Says Trump Will Go Down as a 'Supreme War Criminal' If He Follows Through With Threat
"The president of the United States, in his capacity as the highest-ranking official of his country, has openly threatened to commit war crimes," said Iran's deputy foreign minister.
Apr 06, 2026
Iranian officials on Monday warned US President Donald Trump that his name will be "etched in history as a supreme war criminal" if he follows through with his threat to wage total war on Iran's civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, wrote on social media following Trump's Easter-morning outburst that "threats to attack power plants and bridges (civilian infrastructure) constitute war crimes under Article 8(2)(b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977 (Article 52)."
"The president of the United States, in his capacity as the highest-ranking official of his country, has openly threatened to commit war crimes—an act that entails his individual criminal responsibility before the International Criminal Court and any competent national court," Gharibabadi added, vowing that Iran "will deliver a decisive, immediate, and regret-inducing response" to any attack.
The US and Israel have already done significant damage to Iran's civilian infrastructure. The country's deputy health minister said Monday that more than 360 healthcare, education, and research centers have been hit by US-Israeli strikes, and dozens of medics have been killed since the bombing began on February 28.
But Trump on Sunday threatened an indiscriminate assault, telling Fox News that if the Iranians "don't make a deal and fast," he is "considering blowing everything up and taking the oil."
"You're going to see bridges and power plants dropping all over their country," the president said, setting a new deadline of 8 pm ET for the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump's remarks came after he published a deranged post on his Truth Social platform demanding that Iran "open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell."
Analysts and lawmakers in the US echoed Iranian officials' warnings that Trump's threatened attacks would constitute war crimes.
"Trump's advisers are telling him to hit civilian sites because it will cause unrest and potentially topple the regime. But just think about the insanity of this plan: kill tens of thousands of civilians in order to cause a national panic," US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote. "Bombing to induce political panic IS A WAR CRIME."
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, said that "any lawmaker who votes for supplemental funding for the war on Iran or against war powers resolutions to end it will be fully complicit in the war crimes threatened here, as well as those already committed by this unhinged and unfit Commander in Chief."
The US president's renewed threats came amid reports of a diplomatic effort, mediated in part by Pakistan, to enact a 45-day ceasefire to provide space for a lasting resolution to the war.
Axios reported that the talks are seen as "the only chance to prevent a dramatic escalation in the war that will include massive strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure and a retaliation against energy and water facilities in the Gulf states."
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'Stop This Lawless War,' Advocates Say as Trump Warns of Coming Power Plant, Bridge Attacks in Iran
"Trump is being driven insane by his inability to defeat Iran," said a UK journalist. "This is a threat to commit unspeakable war crimes."
Apr 05, 2026
Following President Donald Trump's Sunday morning Truth Social post detailing his intent to further break international law by bombing Iran's power plants and civilian infrastructure, the message sent by numerous critics to White House officials, the US Congress, and US allies was the same: "Act now to stop this lawless war."
That demand was made by Just Security editor and Rutgers University law professor Adil Haque of the international community after Trump announced on social media that this coming Tuesday "will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran."
"There will be nothing like it!!!" the missive continued. "Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP."
The threat was one of Trump's most blatant yet regarding his plans to bomb Iran's power plants and other civilian infrastructure in retaliation for Iran's de facto blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for global oil and other imports. Iran announced a deal with Iraq on Saturday to allow its shipments through the waterway and was in talks with Oman on Sunday, but about 3,000 vessels carrying shipments have been stranded in the strait since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran began imposing heavy restrictions in retaliation for the US-Israeli invasion of the country.
Attacking power plants "could amount to a war crime," Amnesty International said late last month as Trump ramped up threats against the critical facilities, because they are "essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians."
“When power plants collapse, horrific consequences cascade instantly," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns last month. "Water pumping stations would stop functioning, clean water would become scarce, and preventable diseases would spread. Hospitals would lose electricity and fuel, forcing surgeries to be canceled and life-support machines to shut down. Food production and distribution networks would collapse, deepening hunger and causing widespread food scarcity. Many businesses would also shut down with devastating economic consequences including mass unemployment."
On Sunday, Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard said she was "running out of language to denounce and condemn" Trump's escalating threats and called the Truth Social post a "revolting statement."
"Iranian civilians will be the first to suffer from the destruction of power plants and bridges," she said. "No heat, no electricity, no water, no capacity to move or to flee, and all that it means for their right to life."
Trump has also threatened Iran's water desalination plants, which could lead the country to retaliate with similar attacks across the region, impacting the water supply of millions of people across Gulf Arab states. On Saturday, Kuwait blamed Iran for an airstrike that hit a power and desalination plant, while Iranian officials blamed Israel for the attack.
Political analyst Omar Baddar warned that "Iranian civilians will pay the biggest and most immediate price of his madness, but the ripple effect will not spare much of the world." He was among those who commented that Trump's latest remarks on the war sounded "exceedingly desperate" as news reports pointed to mounting evidence that the US is not succeeding at Trump's goal of defeating Iran's military—despite the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's persistent claims that "we are punching them while they're down."
As The New York Times reported Friday, US intelligence has found that Iran is swiftly returning its missile bunkers to operation following US and Israeli bombings. The country's exact capability is unclear because the IRGC "is deploying significant numbers of decoys, and the United States is not sure how many of the apparent launchers it has destroyed were real," the Times reported. Iran is also reportedly using a new air defense system.
"Trump is being driven insane by his inability to defeat Iran," said UK journalist Owen Jones of Trump's Sunday post. "This is a threat to commit unspeakable war crimes."
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that top White House aides and officials, including Hegseth, have been advising Trump that "Iran’s power-generating facilities and bridges are legitimate military targets because destroying them could cripple the country’s missile and nuclear program."
"There are no 'legitimate military targets,'" said Charles Idelson, former communications director of National Nurses United. "Just war crimes, in an illegitimate war started without justification, following deliberate lies about the state of negotiations, and [that] has featured multiple attacks on civilians beginning with blowing up a girls' elementary school."
Trump threatened to escalate attacks against power plants a day after Israel attacked Iran's largest petrochemical hub in Mahshahr—an assault that had previously been reported to have injured five people. Late on Saturday, The New York Times reported that five people had been killed and 170 had been injured in the attack on the sprawling complex, which helps provide electricity to 500,000 people and produces materials including chemicals and polymers.
Reports have pointed to people in the Mahshahr area suffering from the impact of the strike as "chemical pollution from the petrochemical explosions has spread through the city in such a way that breathing is impossible," as one person with family in the city said.
The US also struck the B1 bridge, a major bridge in the city of Karaj, on Saturday, killing eight people and injuring nearly 100.
As Trump warned of further assaults on critical infrastructure, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the US Congress to end its spring recess in order "to reconvene and to reassert their authority over matters of war and peace and to ensure that no president can unilaterally drag our nation into war."
"Congress must not remain on vacation while the president openly promises to commit war crimes that could trigger even more regional and global conflict," said the group, which also condemned Trump's "deranged mocking of Islam."
In his latest conflicting statement on the state of the war, Trump told Fox News Sunday that a deal could be reached with Iran on Monday but warned that he was “considering blowing everything up” if an agreement was not reached.
US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) urged top White House officials to take action by spending Easter Sunday "calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment," which empowers a presidential Cabinet to declare that a president is unable to perform their duties.
"This is completely, utterly unhinged," said Murphy. "He's already killed thousands. He's going to kill thousands more."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) repeated CAIR's demand, saying Trump's remarks were "the ravings of a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual."
"Congress has got to act NOW," said Sanders. "End this war."
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Trump Spews 'More Threats of War Crimes' as Iran Says It Shot Down US Fighter Jet
"Just pointless forever war, death and destruction—a flailing, furious, rapidly declining superpower," one analyst wrote of the Trump administration's assault.
Apr 03, 2026
US President Donald Trump late Thursday threatened more illegal attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants, as Iran's military said it shot down an American fighter jet over Tehran, with state-affiliated media publishing apparent photos from the scene.
An Iranian official told Drop Site's Jeremy Scahill that Iran's forces hit an F-15 warplane, causing the jet to crash and sparking "an intense fire." The unnamed Iranian official said the pilot could not have evacuated due to the "nature of the strike," but "no remains have yet been found."
The US Central Command had not commented on the purported downing of an American fighter jet as of this writing. Last month, a US F-35 was forced to make an emergency landing at an air base in the Middle East after reportedly being struck by Iranian fire.
🚨 BREAKING | An Iranian official told Drop Site News that a U.S. F-15 warplane struck by Iranian forces went down over southern Tehran Province, with intense fire reported at the crash site.
The official said the nature of the strike prevented the pilot[s] from ejecting before… https://t.co/iUKD0AqRQQ pic.twitter.com/BI4TzolmZY
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 3, 2026
Iran's claim on Friday came as Trump issued more belligerent threats on his social media platform, declaring that the US military "hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran."
"Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" the president wrote, shortly after bragging about the US military's destruction of an Iranian highway bridge. "New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!"
Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, characterized Trump's message as "more threats of war crimes as POTUS flails and seeks to coerce an exit to his own self-inflicted, unnecessary, and ill-conceived war."
Trump's renewed threats came amid reports of US-Israeli attacks on a century-old Iranian medical research center, pharmaceutical facilities, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure—and on emergency responders aiding those wounded by the attacks.
"War crime after war crime after war crime," US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the lone Iranian American member of Congress, wrote early Friday. "Now’s the time to speak up if you’re against this reckless war of choice. The consequences will be vast and catastrophic."
Ben Rhodes, a political analyst who worked in the Obama administration, wrote that the US military's recent actions have "nothing to do with nuclear or helping Iranians."
"Just pointless forever war, death and destruction—a flailing, furious, rapidly declining superpower," Rhodes added.
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