Paratroopers
from 82nd Airborne Division deploy to the Middle East. It follows the US drone
strike ordered by Donald Trump in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed Qassem Suleimani,
the head of Iran’s Quds Force. Photograph: Timothy L Hale/ZUMA
Wire/REX/Shutterstock
Suleimani
killing: Donald Trump defends threat to hit cultural sites in Iran
US
president a vows ‘major retaliation’ if Tehran takes revenge over US killing of
General Qassem Suleimani
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Mon 6 Jan
2020 04.24 GMTFirst published on Mon 6 Jan 2020 03.09 GMT
Donald
Trump has defended his threat to target Iranian cultural sites – widely seen as
a war crime – if Tehran retaliates for the killing of General Qassem Suleimani.
On
bellicose form, the US president also lashed out at Iraq following its
parliament’s demand for American troops to be expelled from that country, and
vowed to respond with crippling sanctions.
Trump’s
comments suggest he was making no idle threat when, on Saturday night, he
tweeted that the US has “targeted 52 Iranian sites ... some at a very high
level & important to Iran & Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran
itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
Speaking to
reporters aboard Air Force One a day later, he sought to offer a justification.
“They’re allowed to kill our people,” Trump said, according to a pool report.
“They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use
roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their
cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.”
Targeting
cultural sites is prohibited by international conventions signed in Geneva and
at the Hague. In 2017, the United Nations security council passed unanimously a
resolution condemning the destruction of heritage sites. The action previewed
by Trump would almost certainly involve the deaths of civilians.
Trump’s
statements come after secretary of state Mike Pompeo defended the assertion
that the drone strike against Suleimani in Baghdad prevented an imminent attack
on US interests. “We would have been culpably negligent had we not taken this
action,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. When host Chuck Todd asked if
retaliation against US citizens should now be expected, Pompeo admitted: “It
may be that there’s a little noise here in the interim.”
US-Iran
tensions are escalating following last Friday’s drone strike – ordered by Trump
without congressional authorisation – in Iraq that killed Suleimani, commander
of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
The Iraqi
parliament passed a resolution calling on the government to expel US troops, of
which about 5,000 remain, most in an advisory capacity. And Iran’s government
said the country would no longer observe limitations on uranium enrichment,
stockpiles of enriched uranium or nuclear research and development. The
statement noted that the steps could be reversed if Washington lifted its
sanctions on Tehran.
On Sunday,
Human Rights Watch condemned the president’s latest threat to Iran’s culture
sites: “President Trump should publicly reverse his threats against Iran’s
cultural property and make clear that he will not authorise nor order war
crimes,” said Andrea Prasow, its acting Washington director. “The US Defense
Department should publicly reaffirm its commitment to abide by the laws of war
and comply only with lawful military orders.”
She added:
“Trump’s threat to attack Iran’s cultural heritage shows his callous disregard
for the global rule of law. Whether refusing to condemn the brutal murder of
Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi or pardoning convicted war criminals, Trump has
shown little respect for human rights as part of US foreign policy.”
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump’s drone strike “provocative and
disproportionate” and said legislation would be introduced this week to halt
the president’s military actions regarding Iran unless Congress is involved.
She told
Democrats: “We are concerned that the administration took this action without
the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers
granted to it by the Constitution.”
Trump spoke
to reporters on Sunday as he flew back to Washington from another eventful
holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He showed no hint of
regret. Asked about vows of vengeance from Iran, the president said simply: “If
it happens it happens. If they do anything, there will be major retaliation.”
He also
turned his ire on Iraq after that country’s parliament passed a resolution
calling on the Iraqi government to expel US troops. “We have a very
extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there,” he said. “It cost billions of
dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us
back for it.
“If they do
ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge
them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian
sanctions look somewhat tame.”
Trump’s
remarks look set to trigger another political firestorm amid concerns that he
has not considered the consequences of the strike against Suleimani and may
even be seeking to distract from his upcoming impeachment trial.
Brett
McGurk, the former US presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter
Isis, tweeted: “Trump’s comments tonight regarding Iran and Iraq are not only
unacceptable, they’re unAmerican. American military forces adhere to
international law. They don’t attack cultural sites. And they’re not
mercenaries. Reckless and unprecedented words from a commander-in-chief.”
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