Trump Threatens to Destroy All of Iran’s Power, Oil and Water Facilities as ‘Retribution’

 

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

President Donald Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants, oil wells, and desalinization plants in a Truth Social post on Monday.

In the post early Monday morning, Trump wrote:

The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made but, 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.” 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.” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.

Retired U.S. Army General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Wesley Clark, advised the president against bombing Iranian power plants and other civilian infrastructure last week, warning that such an attack 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.”

He concluded, “Now, if you can show it has a military connection, that’s different. But if it’s simply to put pressure on the government by harming the civilian population, then that’s de jure– that’s a war crime.”

During an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump admitted that his ideal outcome for the war would be to “take the oil in Iran.”

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” he said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”

Republicans and allies of the president have repeatedly warned the administration in recent weeks against a ground invasion of Iran.

On Sunday, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) cautioned that “a lot of Republicans” would be firmly against such a move, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s former colleague at Fox News, Joey Jones, suggested they should “spill their [enemy’s] blood” and then “get the hell out of there.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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