The War Crimes Warning

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. That was enough for apoplectic Europeans to allege “war crimes.” The Red Cross claims that the threat is more worrisome than real attacks. Mr. Trump “Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran,” was a Sunday headline in the New York Times. That “threat” is yet to materialize, but is it unique to Mr. Trump? Here are two other Times headlines: “Ukraine Says it Struck Crimea Bridge,” the paper wrote in June 2025. “Russia and Ukraine Target Energy Sites, Seeking Leverage Away from the Front,” it added in August 2025. In those articles, and numerous similar ones on the Ukraine war, the words “war crimes” are nowhere to be found. When they are, allegations are more often applied to Russia than to Ukraine. It is not our purpose here to malign the Ukrainian military. Kyiv is fighting a ruthless aggressor that seeks to erase its independence. Nor do we, or the Times, know Mr. Trump’s plans for Tuesday. Yet by our lights the Gray Lady doth protest too much. It is hard to miss how the chorus wailing over crimes before they are committed is applied selectively. In this war, after all, no one is more guilty of targeting civilians than the Islamic Republic. One of Tehran’s goals is to intimidate Gulf states into pressuring America to end the war. To that end the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps intentionally is targeting Dubai hotels and Saudi oil installations. After realizing that Israel’s air defenses are extremely effective against Iranian ballistic missiles, the IRGC decided to equip its projectiles with cluster bombs, which spread widely to inflict maximum damage on civilians.Blocking a crucial international waterway, the Hormuz Strait, is intended to harm the global economy. Why? On the one hand, as energy costs rise, suffering civilians across the world would turn on America. On the other hand, detractors say, Tehran’s Sharif university was struck by Israel and America overnight. Isn’t that a civilian target? Not quite. Dubbed “Iran’s MIT,” the IRGC uses that university for military research, including on an atomic bomb. Ukraine, by hitting that Crimea bridge, hoped to slow Russian troops’ movement to the contested peninsula. The principle of “distinction” in war-relevant treaties allows attacks against military, but not civilian targets. The premise of “proportionality” dictates that civilian harm must not exceed military objectives. When civilian installations are used for military purposes, they become fair targets. Many of today’s rules of war are rooted in international conventions and treaties written in the aftermath of World War II, when what we now call war crimes were accepted behavior. As the Pentagon’s Judge Advocate General’s legal eagles pore over each operation plan, though, they are also aware of the Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote in the early 19th century that “the ultimate goal of war is to compel the enemy to fulfill our will.” There are no JAG units in the IRGC headquarters. The other side’s goal is to prevail by surviving. Using Western armies of armchair generals, the Iranian regime hopes to weaken America’s resolve. Using allegations of war crimes, or even intentions to commit them, is part of the strategy. Mr. Trump wrote his post “to make a point,” he said Monday. He also said he doesn’t want such destruction to happen. Threats can bend an enemy’s leadership.

The War Crimes Warning

The War Crimes Warning

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