Except for the Pope and Spanish PM Sanchez, Western media and leaders showed no outrage when a madman in the White House threatened to wipe out Iran. Why? Because Iran is independent and maintains its sovereignty as a Muslim majority nation. And it supports Palestine. And it refuses to be a puppet.
Under international law, when Trump threatened to “wipe out a civilisation,” and Pete Hegseth spoke about being ready to destroy infrastructure like bridges and power plants in Iran, they were describing conduct that the law prohibits. It is illegal not only to use force unlawfully, but also to threaten it.
Article 2(4) of the UN Charter states:
“All Members shall refrain… from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
This rule is absolute.
Saying you are prepared to destroy an entire country or civilisation goes far beyond lawful self-defence under Article 51 and is unlawful in itself.
International humanitarian law, reflected in Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol I, allows attacks only on “military objectives.”
Civilian infrastructure such as power plants and bridges is protected. Labelling everything as “dual use” to justify destroying it on a large scale breaks the rule that civilians and civilian objects must not be targeted.
These statements also point to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Article 8(2)(b)(ii) makes it a crime to attack civilian objects.
Article 8(2)(b)(iv) makes it a crime to carry out attacks knowing they will cause excessive harm to civilians compared to any military gain.
Saying such infrastructure can be destroyed “with impunity” and that “we can take it all” shows awareness that civilians would lose electricity, water, and other essentials needed to survive, and a willingness to accept that harm.
Article 25(3)(e) of the Rome Statute also makes it a crime to directly and publicly incite such acts.
Threatening to destroy an entire civilisation, alongside clear readiness to strike civilian infrastructure, meets the legal definition of an unlawful threat, incitement, and preparation for war crimes under binding international law.
Below are relevant screenshots of a day that had been difficult to track.
Yesterday Israel bombed a synagogue in Tehran. You read that right.
The ceasefire predictably broke down within hours after Israel carried out a hundred attacks on Lebanon in the space of ten minutes, including bombing the vehicle in which Aljazeera journalist Mohammed Wishah and his team were travelling. All were killed. Prior to this Mohammed was receiving multiple assassination threats for reporting in Gaza.
Over 500 people, many of them children, were killed in Lebanon with over 1,200 severely injured.
Iran has reclosed the Hormuz Strait to all but Pakistan, China, Turkey and India.
Trump’s word cannot be trusted. Iran has no option but to pursue its objectives of bringing peace to the region and ending Western hegemony and the Israeli regime’s ethnic cleansing and state terrorism of it’s neighbours.
Many in the US are calling for Trump to be impeached and removed from office. The White House, despite its pretences, appears to be in chaos.
Today shows one thing clearly, it is not possible to negotiate peace or ceasefires with ethnosupremacists who see the world in terms of material gain, and view the global majority through blinkered prejudice, as inferior.
Meanwhile, the US and Israel’s “allies” sit silent, no outrage, (in case it’s their turn next, as it surely will be) and Western press manufacture consent for this madness. But Anyone who thinks critically can see through the smokescreen and double standards.
Iran, a 6,000 year old civilisation is standing alone against the US and Israeli regimes in trying to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing, state terrorism and the killing dead of international law. Iran stood up. No one else.
Shame on the West, with its thin veneer of civility on top of savage barbarism and greed.
Here is the transcript of what Hegseth said at the White House today, and below that some relevant screenshots from yesterday and today:
Journalist:
Yesterday in the president's Truth Social, he threatened to wipe out a civilisation. That statement elicited a huge response in America. If Iran did not come to the table and make a deal yesterday by the deadline, was the president really prepared to wipe out Iran entirely?
Secretary Hegseth:
Like I said, we had a target set, locked, and loaded of infrastructure, bridges, power plants. Remember, this is a terror regime, a military regime. Used all of these things for dual use to fund their military, to fund their terror campaigns. We had a lot of legitimate targets. They knew exactly the scope of what we were capable of. We hit some military targets on Kharg, which is a bit of a signal.
They can't defend it. And so Iran ultimately understood their ability, their future to produce, to generate power, to fuel their terrorist regime was in our hands, was in President Trump's hands. That's why they came to the table. He ultimately said, "We can take it all from you. Your ability to export energy will be taken away." And the United States military has the ability to strike those things with impunity.
That type of threat is what brought them to the place where they effectively say, "Okay, we want to cut this deal."
Iran has reclosed the Strait of Hormuz to all but Pakistan, India, Turkey and China after Trump and Netanyahu breached the ceasefire less than 18 hours after agreeing it.
