U.S. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy sharply rebuked Donald Trump over fresh threats targeting Iran, warning that carrying them out would constitute “war crimes.”
“Trump is calling reporters today to say he plans to commit mass war crimes next week. GOP leaders need to stop him,” Murphy wrote on X.
He added that attacks on civilian infrastructure would neither achieve strategic goals nor meet legal standards. “Blowing up bridges and power plants and killing innocent Iranians won’t reopen the Strait. It’s also a clear war crime,” Murphy said.
Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social that Tuesday would be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
“There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F-in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in hell. Just watch! Praise be to Allah,” Trump added.
The U.S. president reiterated his threats in multiple interviews Sunday, as Iran’s restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to drive up global energy prices.
“Trump isn’t even pretending to choose military targets. He is promising to bomb all of Iran’s power plants and bridges,” Murphy said, adding that “Trump’s advisers are telling him to hit civilian sites because it will cause unrest and potentially topple the regime,” and warning that the plan amounts to killing tens of thousands of civilians in order to cause a “national panic.”
Murphy said even partial strikes on Iran’s infrastructure would result in civilian deaths and amount to a war crime, warning that “even blowing up a fraction will kill thousands of innocent people who work in those power plants and travel on the nation’s roads. That’s also a war crime.”
Other U.S. senators, including Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, also criticized Trump’s remarks on X. Schumer said the president “is ranting like an unhinged madman,” while Sanders called him a “mentally unbalanced individual.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin wrote on X that Trump’s remarks, “if carried out, would violate the law of armed conflict,” adding that his decisions are making “us less safe abroad, raising prices and costing American blood and treasure. He must negotiate a way to end this war, open the Strait of Hormuz, and bring our warriors home.”
In response, Rep. Yassamin Ansari wrote on X that the U.S. president “is a deranged lunatic, and a national security threat to our country and the rest of the world.”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X: “The Strait is closed because the U.S. and Israel started the unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.”
“You know who has nuclear weapons? Israel. They are more than capable of defending themselves without the U.S. having to fight their wars, kill innocent people and children, and pay for it. Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges hurts the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed he was freeing,” she added.
