Military Experts Alarmed by Trump’s Threats Against Iran
Military observers and retired officers have expressed concern following President Donald Trump’s statement on Tuesday morning threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran does not comply with his demands. These remarks have been described as "likely war crimes" by several experts.
“I have to hope that this is bluster and a negotiating tactic on his part,”said retired Admiral Michael Smith, who formerly commanded a carrier strike group in the Navy.
“He must understand that those types of threats themselves are likely war crimes.”
Trump’s post on Truth Social followed a weekend of profane remarks in which he labeled the Iranian regime as “crazy bastards” while demanding an end to Iran’s obstruction of oil transshipment through the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, he escalated his rhetoric by threatening to bomb Iranian infrastructure if his demands were not met.
“While his comments previously on the bridges and electric power plants might have had military utility that would make it a justifiable target, his current claims have no legal standing,”Smith explained.
“And yet, we have to have faith that the current military leaders will do what is legal.”
Trump’s Statements and Congressional Response
During a White House press briefing on Monday, Trump stated he was “not at all” concerned about the possibility of committing war crimes and reiterated his threat to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants if Tehran did not reopen the strait by Tuesday. He declined to confirm whether civilian targets would be excluded from potential attacks.
Gary Corn, a retired Army staff attorney and national security law professor at American University Washington College of Law, noted that Congress has gradually relinquished its constitutional authority to declare war and control military funding.
“When you have the efforts in Congress failing, one can interpret it as an implicit acquiescence if not endorsement to what’s gone on in the last 30 days,”Corn said. He pointed out that earlier in March, both the House and Senate narrowly rejected proposals requiring congressional approval for military actions against Iran.
Corn also referenced historical precedent, noting that President Richard Nixon continued military operations in Vietnam despite the repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution 55 years ago.
Implications of Trump’s Threats
Shawn Harris, a retired Army general and Democratic candidate for Congress in Georgia’s district formerly held by Marjorie Taylor Greene, interpreted Trump’s threat to annihilate a “civilization” within a day as an implicit reference to nuclear weapons, despite the term not being explicitly used. The runoff election is scheduled for Tuesday.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed three generals, which Harris suggested may indicate internal resistance among senior military officials to Trump’s war plans. None of the officers who were forced into retirement have publicly commented since their dismissal.
Harris remarked on the difficulty of distinguishing between Trump’s rhetoric and actual policy intentions, stating,
“I think what he’s basically saying is he’s going to follow through on his plans of things he talked about two or three days ago of blowing up bridges, blowing up power facilities and all those type things ... Hopefully we will get to a diplomatic agreement, but you know the Iranians, they’re no pushover.”
Veterans and Lawmakers Respond
Naveed Shah, political director for the left-leaning veterans organization Common Defense, described Trump’s rhetoric as “unhinged.”
“I know we have gotten used to Trump’s locker room talk, but even the most jaded must recognize that his latest screed today is unhinged,”Shah said.
“As an army veteran who served in Iraq, this type of rhetoric puts our troops in the region in greater danger. If we don’t de-escalate, we will be dragged into another forever war in the Middle East that we can’t afford.”
Democratic members of Congress also voiced concern over Trump’s statements.
Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan and former defense official who was targeted by Trump last year after she circulated a video urging service members to refuse illegal orders, stated,
“Targeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual.”
“This kind of focus on civilians is exactly what we accuse our adversaries of doing and what our military trains to avoid. It’s built into the rigorous drilling and routines that our military are trained on from their first weeks. If they are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy.”
