Fox Reporter Confronts Hegseth on Trump Threat to Iran Power Plants: Is There a Way to Do That Without ‘Seriously Harming Civilians?’

Fox News senior foreign policy correspondent Gillian Turner confronted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian power, oil, and water facilities, questioning how the U.S. military could take such an action without “seriously harming civilians.”

During a press conference at the Pentagon with Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, Turner questioned:

The U.S. and Iran appear right now publicly to disagree about whether there are these negotiations ongoing. What impact does that have on military strategy? Does it have any bearing at all? And General, the president wrote yesterday that the U.S. might destroy Iran’s electricity generating plants and oil wells – those are his words – before ending this operation. Is there a way to do either of those things without like seriously jeopardizing or seriously harming civilians?

Hegseth responded, “On the talks, I can tell you, having been with Steve and Jared and the vice president and Marco and many others yesterday, they are very real. They are ongoing, they are active, and I think gaining strength, and we appreciate that.”

“As I said in my remarks, we would much prefer to get a deal. If Iran is willing to relinquish material they have and ambitions they have, open this– Great, that’s the goal, we don’t want to have to do more militarily than we have to,” he continued. “But I didn’t mean it flippantly when I said in the meantime we’ll negotiate with bombs. Our job is to ensure that we compel Iran to realize that this new regime, this regime in charge, is in a better place if they make that deal.”

Hegseth concluded, “We’re working hand in hand, but the primary effort is a deal. We want that deal to be accomplished if at all possible. If not, then we’re prepared to continue.”

Responding to Turner’s second part of the question, General Caine replied, “Thanks for the question. We’re always thinking about those considerations and develop options to be able to mitigate those risks pursuing to the normal practices that we do in the military.”

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s infrastructure, including power, water, and oil.

“If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,'” threatened Trump. “This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.'”

Retired U.S. Army General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Wesley Clark, warned last week that such an attack on Iran’s infrastructure could be considered a “war crime.”

“A lot of people will say it’s a war crime because mostly these power plants are probably there for the civilian population,” said Clark, who warned, “You cannot destroy civilian assets in an effort to put harm on the population.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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