Trump's threats against Iran could be war crimes if carried out, some experts say

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Trump said Sunday that if Iran did not agree to favorable terms for a diplomatic settlement of the war, "they're going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country." The president has said civilians in Iran would support the strikes because it would bring the Tehran regime closer to the capitulation Trump desires. In this screengrab obtained from a social media video, smoke rises over Azadi Square following a strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 6, 2026.Social Media via Reuters"We have -- we have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by twelve o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again," Trump said at a White House press conference Monday, saying the operation would take only four hours. Trump has said he wants the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iran controls transit, to be reopened by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Asked Monday if his threats to destroy Iran's infrastructure amounted to a war crimes, Trump answered, "You know the war crime? The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon." Experts in the laws of war say Trump's wholesale threat represents a threat to commit perhaps a number of war crimes. Collective punishment on a population and the targeting of protected civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law. Trump has also said he'd like to take Iran's oil, which could amount to pillaging, also barred under the law. The U.S. has incorporated the Geneva Conventions, which set humanitarian standards during armed conflict, into its own domestic law, subjecting service members to them. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham, who served as the chief of international law at U.S. Central Command during the Iraq war, and Margaret Donovan, a former assistant U.S. attorney who served in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps, writing in Just Security, said Trump has threatened "total war" in Iran, "a complete rejection of the legal limits the United States has incorporated into the law governing U.S. military operations for both pragmatic and moral reasons," they wrote. President Donald Trump watches as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, April 6, 2026.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/APBrian Finucane, who was an attorney-advisor at the State Department from 2011 to 2021, said any finding that Iranian armed forces were using civilian infrastructure for military means would be a "fact-intensive" one. "In principle, a power plant might be able to be a military objective that you could target if you could show that it was making an effective contribution to the enemy's military action, and that the destruction of it would yield some definite military advantage," Finucane said. A power plant that generated power exclusively for a missile factory, for example, would be a permissible target. "[The] problem here is that the president says, 'No, we're destroying all of them,'" Finucane said. "It's not the case that all power plants in Iran are military objectives." In 1999, when the U.S. and NATO launched an air war over Yugoslavia, the Pentagon targeted power distribution facilities but not generation facilities, according to Human Rights Watch. Instead of using explosives, most attacks used carbon fiber bombs that incapacitated the facilities instead of destroying them. VanLandingham called that an "operationalization" of taking "precautions in attack." These methods are "legally required" to ensure critical infrastructure benefitting civilians can be quickly restored, she said. Trump said Monday that Iranians "want to hear bombs because they want to be free." There is no evidence to support his claim. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 6, 2026.Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesIn a hearing on Capitol Hill in March, Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, who is the commander of U.S. European Command, said he was watching closely the widespread targeting of civilian power infrastructure by Russia in Ukraine. "What I've observed over the course of studying air power in history is that any time you attack a civilian population, you usually end up finding that it just hardens their resolve," the general told senators. In interviews with ABC News, experts in the law of armed conflict pointed out that while the laws are meant to mitigate civilian harm and suffering, they are in the first place designed to prevent the war. VanLandingham said the administration is "celebrating the destruction, the violence, the imagery of violence" in its rhetoric and social media posts in what she called a "dangerous shift." "What we have is an erosion of a commitment to the basic concept that war is bad -- that it is regrettable because of the suffering it causes and should be avoided at almost all cost," she said. The U.S. "agreed to these rules for very good reasons," Finucane said. "The most important rule is the threshold rule prohibiting the use of force after the horrors of the two world wars and the Holocaust. The U.S. played a critical role in establishing the [United Nations] Charter, which ... prohibits going to war absent self-defense or authorization from the U.N.," he said. "And the U.S. has violated that critical rule by launching this war." 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events President Donald Trump is threatening Iran with an assault that some experts in the laws of war say would be illegal. Trump said Sunday that if Iran did not agree to favorable terms for a diplomatic settlement of the war, \"they're going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country.\" The president has said civilians in Iran would support the strikes because it would bring the Tehran regime closer to the capitulation Trump desires. \"We have -- we have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by twelve o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again,\" Trump said at a White House press conference Monday, saying the operation would take only four hours. Trump has said he wants the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iran controls transit, to be reopened by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Asked Monday if his threats to destroy Iran's infrastructure amounted to a war crimes, Trump answered, \"You know the war crime? The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.\" Experts in the laws of war say Trump's wholesale threat represents a threat to commit perhaps a number of war crimes. Collective punishment on a population and the targeting of protected civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law. Trump has also said he'd like to take Iran's oil, which could amount to pillaging, also barred under the law. The U.S. has incorporated the Geneva Conventions, which set humanitarian standards during armed conflict, into its own domestic law, subjecting service members to them. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham, who served as the chief of international law at U.S. Central Command during the Iraq war, and Margaret Donovan, a former assistant U.S. attorney who served in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps, writing in Just Security, said Trump has threatened \"total war\" in Iran, \"a complete rejection of the legal limits the United States has incorporated into the law governing U.S. military operations for both pragmatic and moral reasons,\" they wrote. Brian Finucane, who was an attorney-advisor at the State Department from 2011 to 2021, said any finding that Iranian armed forces were using civilian infrastructure for military means would be a \"fact-intensive\" one. \"In principle, a power plant might be able to be a military objective that you could target if you could show that it was making an effective contribution to the enemy's military action, and that the destruction of it would yield some definite military advantage,\" Finucane said. A power plant that generated power exclusively for a missile factory, for example, would be a permissible target. \"[The] problem here is that the president says, 'No, we're destroying all of them,'\" Finucane said. \"It's not the case that all power plants in Iran are military objectives.\" In 1999, when the U.S. and NATO launched an air war over Yugoslavia, the Pentagon targeted power distribution facilities but not generation facilities, according to Human Rights Watch. Instead of using explosives, most attacks used carbon fiber bombs that incapacitated the facilities instead of destroying them. VanLandingham called that an \"operationalization\" of taking \"precautions in attack.\" These methods are \"legally required\" to ensure critical infrastructure benefitting civilians can be quickly restored, she said. Trump said Monday that Iranians \"want to hear bombs because they want to be free.\" There is no evidence to support his claim. In a hearing on Capitol Hill in March, Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, who is the commander of U.S. European Command, said he was watching closely the widespread targeting of civilian power infrastructure by Russia in Ukraine. \"What I've observed over the course of studying air power in history is that any time you attack a civilian population, you usually end up finding that it just hardens their resolve,\" the general told senators. In interviews with ABC News, experts in the law of armed conflict pointed out that while the laws are meant to mitigate civilian harm and suffering, they are in the first place designed to prevent the war. VanLandingham said the administration is \"celebrating the destruction, the violence, the imagery of violence\" in its rhetoric and social media posts in what she called a \"dangerous shift.\" \"What we have is an erosion of a commitment to the basic concept that war is bad -- that it is regrettable because of the suffering it causes and should be avoided at almost all cost,\" she said. The U.S. \"agreed to these rules for very good reasons,\" Finucane said. \"The most important rule is the threshold rule prohibiting the use of force after the horrors of the two world wars and the Holocaust. The U.S. played a critical role in establishing the [United Nations] Charter, which ... prohibits going to war absent self-defense or authorization from the U.N.,\" he said. \"And the U.S. has violated that critical rule by launching this war.\"