Defense Sec Esper Breaks With Trump Threats to Bomb Iranian Cultural Sites: US Military Will ‘Follow the Laws of Armed Conflict’

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper directly pushed back on President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to bomb Iranian cultural sites, telling the press that the US military “will follow the laws of armed conflict” that prohibit attacking civilian, cultural, and religious sites that have no military value.

In comments to CNN, Esper on Monday not so subtly contradicted Trump’s Twitter brinkmanship, a striking and ominous break between the Pentagon’s top official and the nation’s Commander-in-Chief just a day after the President reiterated his threats to attack Iran’s cultural sites. While Esper is a civilian appointee and not technically part of the military chain of command, Article 90 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it clear that all members of the military have a duty to disobey any illegal or unlawful orders.

Esper, when asked by a CNN reporter if the US would not target Iranian cultural sites, affirmed his position saying “that’s the laws of armed conflict.” Both the Geneva and Hague Conventions stipulate that bombing non-military religious or cultural sites are tantamount to war crimes.

Additionally, FM 6-27, the US Army and Navy’s Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare, updated just five months ago, emphasizes that cultural property should be afforded special protections and not be specifically targeted during combat operations.

“In general, acts of hostility also may not be directed against cultural property, its immediate surroundings, or appliances in use for its protection,” the manual notes.