It didn't take long at Wednesday's White House press briefing for reporters to get to the question of Trump's choice of words demanding an Iranian ceasefire in his Truth Social post — that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again."
Andrew Feinberg of The Independent asked about it.
“Yesterday, the president threatened to destroy Iran's civilization — the entire civilization — not the Iranian government but the Iranian civilization, the Iranian people,” Feinberg stated.
Feinberg said the U.S. has been a moral leader for most of its history by fighting wars against other governments, not against civilizations.
“How can the president claim that America can ever have the moral high ground if he's threatening to destroy civilizations?” Feinberg asked.
In his accompanying article, Feinberg reported that Trump's assertion that the Iranian "civilization will die" could cross a rhetorical line from threats to commit war crimes by attacking infrastructure to threats to commit what the U.N. defines as genocide against Iran's population.
Part of Trump’s threats included bombing Iran’s desalination plants which provides fresh water for the whole country. Such actions would violate the Geneva Convention that prohibits the targeting of civilian infrastructure necessary for population survival.
Not only has the U.S. ratified that treaty, but it also signed an additional protocol that banned intentional attacks against civilian populations and objects. The U.S. criminal code also prohibits the commission of war crimes, the violations of which are punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sidestepped Feinberg’s question.
“I think you should take a look at the actions of this president over the course of the past six weeks and the actions of our brave men and women in our United States military,” Leavitt said.
Then she tried to close the topic out with what could be considered a reprimand of Feinberg to have even asked the question.
“The president absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime, and for you to even suggest otherwise is, frankly, insulting,” Leavitt stated.
