Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to destroy every desalination plant in Iran along with the country's energy infrastructure, which human rights organizations and legal experts say would be a grave violation of international law and a war crime.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump warned that if Iran's government doesn't agree to a deal with his administration 'shortly,' the US military will 'conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells, and Kharg Island , which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.''Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt wrote in response that 'attacking civilian infrastructure, and acutely desalination plants, is a war crime.''Will American armed forces accept orders to do so?' he asked.Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, wrote that 'the categorical and retributive framing of this threat to attack Iranian infrastructure makes clear that this is a threat to commit war crimes.'Trump's Monday post marked an escalation of his previous threat to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, specifically its power plants, if the Strait of Hormuz was not fully reopened. The US president initially gave Iran 48 hours to capitulate to his demand, but he later pushed his arbitrary deadline back to April 6, claiming progress in diplomatic talks with Iran.Iranian officials have repeatedly denied that any direct talks with the US are taking place and rejected the administration's proposed 15-point ceasefire plan.Erika Guevara-Rosas, senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns at Amnesty International, said last week that by threatening strikes on Iran's civilian infrastructure, the Trump administration is 'effectively indicating its willingness to plunge an entire country into darkness, and to potentially deprive its people of their human rights to life, water, food, healthcare and adequate standard of living, and to subject them to severe pain and suffering.''When power plants collapse, horrific consequences cascade instantly,' said Guevara-Rosas. 'Water pumping stations would stop functioning, clean water would become scarce, and preventable diseases would spread. Hospitals would lose electricity and fuel, forcing surgeries to be cancelled and life-support machines to shut down. Food production and distribution networks would collapse, deepening hunger and causing widespread food scarcity. Many businesses would also shut down with devastating economic consequences, including mass unemployment.'Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told The New York Times that he sees 'no difference between what Trump is threatening to do in Iran and what the International Criminal Court charged four Russian commanders for doing in Ukraine.' 'Trump is openly threatening a war crime,' said Roth.In June 2024, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for top Russian commanders accused of 'the war crime of directing attacks at civilian objects.' The judges cited 'a large number of strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations were carried out by the Russian armed forces in multiple locations in Ukraine.'According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the US has already targeted Iran's water infrastructure, specifically 'a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island.''Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted,' Abbas wrote in a March 7 social media post. 'Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran.'Iran is among the most water-stressed countries on the planet, and large-scale US strikes on the country's desalination and power plants would make conditions significantly worse.While 'only a small fraction of Iran’s water supply comes from desalination plants,' Grist's Frida Garza wrote last week, 'strikes on its power plants would indeed hamper the country’s water supply.''Without electricity,' Garza wrote, 'water treatment operations could not run.'
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