<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump<\/span> threatened to commit genocide in Iran, ahead of warnings of a wave of attacks on civilian infrastructure on Tuesday night. \u201cA whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on Truth Social on Tuesday.\u00a0This followed a drumbeat of similar threats of wanton and criminal destruction. \u201cThe entire country could be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night,\u201d he said on Monday<\/a>, having recently warned he would bomb Iran\u00a0\u201cback to the Stone Ages<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has repeatedly threatened war crimes in Iran and now he is expressing genocidal intent,\u201d said Sarah Harrison, an associate general counsel at the Pentagon\u2019s Office of General Counsel, International Affairs during Trump\u2019s first term. \u201cEvery single lawmaker and national security leader needs to stand against this and make clear to the U.S. military that these are unlawful orders and if carried out they will someday face criminal prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n This interpretation was echoed by Rebecca Ingber, a former State Department lawyer and now a law professor at Cardozo Law School. \u201cThe U.S. understanding of the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention requires a \u2018specific intent\u2019 to destroy a group \u2014 such as a national or ethnic group as relevant here,\u201d she told The Intercept. \u201cThat is an intentionally high bar, and one that explicitly would not cover unintended consequences of armed conflict. If acted upon, the President\u2019s statement would be evidence of that required specific intent.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly threatened<\/a> to obliterate Iran\u2019s civilian infrastructure should the nation\u2019s leaders not heed his demands. \u201cWe have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12:00 tomorrow night,\u201d he said on Monday<\/a>. \u201cWhere every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again.\u201d This echoed an Easter morning missive. \u201cTuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!\u201d Trump ranted on Truth Social<\/a>. \u201cOpen the Fuckin\u2019 Strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards, or you\u2019ll be living in Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked on Monday if he was concerned that his threat to bomb power plants or bridges amounts to war crimes, Trump replied \u201cNo, not at all<\/a>,\u201d and said in another interview, \u201cI\u2019m not worried about it<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no gray area on this under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cWhat President Trump is describing as the destruction of \u2018a whole civilization\u2019 would be a war crime, plain and simple,\u201d said Sarah Yager, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch and a former senior adviser on human rights to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. \u201cThere is no gray area on this under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Civilian infrastructure has been a frequent target since the U.S.\u2013Israeli war on Iran began on February 28<\/a>. \u201cStrikes on critical infrastructure and industrial sites have disrupted basic services including electricity, water and telecommunications, also leading to increasing immediate and longer term environmental and health risks,\u201d wrote the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, in a brief report<\/a> issued last week. Airports, cultural heritage locations, hospitals, industrial sites markets, residential areas, and schools have also been struck, including the civilian international airport in Tehran, a power plant in Khorramshahr, and water reservoirs in Fars and Khuzestan. Last week, the U.S. attacked the newly constructed B1 highway bridge<\/a>, which killed 8 people, who were, according to the deputy governor of Alborz province, not military targets but nearby villagers celebrating Nowruz, the Persian new year.<\/p>\n The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed strikes affected multiple nuclear sites, including Iran\u2019s Bushehr nuclear power plant. Rafael Grossi, head<\/a> of the nuclear watchdog, warned on Monday<\/a> that \u201ccontinued military activity near the BNPP \u2014 an operating plant with large amounts of nuclear fuel \u2014 could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump claimed that the Iranian people actually want the United States to attack their civilian infrastructure, citing \u201cnumerous intercepts\u201d of communications.\u00a0\u201c\u2018Please keep bombing,\u2019\u201d Trump said on Monday<\/a> of these supposed pleas. \u201cAnd these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave, and we\u2019re not hitting those areas, they\u2019re saying, \u2018Please come back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In actuality, Iranians have been fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas under attack. Almost a month ago, UNHCR \u2014 the U.N. refugee agency \u2014 reported that as many as 3.2 million people<\/a> were already displaced inside Iran due to the conflict. While casualty counts are fragmentary, more than 2,100 civilians had been killed in the war by the end of last month and around 28,000 injured, according to Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This included 216 children killed and 1,881 injured, as of April 3.<\/p>\n Yager noted that Iranians who have already suffered severe government repression<\/a>, including the mass killings of protesters<\/a> earlier this year, now face obliteration by America. \u201cThey\u2019re being told their entire society could be destroyed by the president of United States, with the power of the U.S. military at his fingertips. His previous threats to bomb their power plants and bridges are threats to the systems that keep people alive, their electricity, water, and health care,\u201d she told The Intercept. \u201cEven before anything happens, that kind of rhetoric creates deep anxiety and fear for millions of civilians who have no control over these decisions but who will bear the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n