U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants, saying the strikes would not amount to a war crime if Tehran walks away from a nuclear deal.
Waltz said on ABC’s This Week that “all options are on the table, absolutely,” and argued that U.S. forces could hit the targets “relatively easily” because Iran’s air defenses have been “absolutely decimated.” He added that “attacking, destroying infrastructure that has clearly and historically been used for dual military purposes is not a war crime.”
Trump had threatened earlier Sunday on Truth Social to “knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran” if no deal is reached. Jonathan Karl pressed Waltz on whether that meant every bridge in the country, and Waltz replied, “That would be an escalatory ladder.” He compared the idea with World War II, saying, “Of course, we bombed and took down bridges, other infrastructure, power plants.”
The fight is over what the laws of war allow if the U.S. and Iran move from threats to strikes. Under Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, civilian objects are not to be attacked. Waltz tried to draw a line between civilian infrastructure and sites he said are run by the IRGC, calling bridges and power plants in that category “absolute legitimate military targets.”
He made similar arguments on CBS the same day and dismissed the war-crimes criticism as “a false, fake, and ridiculous notion.” Energy Secretary Chris Wright also brushed aside the threat on ’s State of the Union, saying, “The president is looking for maximum leverage. No, I’m not worried about that.”
The argument landed alongside a sharper one from Tehran. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the continued U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports “unlawful and criminal” and a “war crime and crime against humanity.” Tucker Carlson, in an April 7 video, had already called the idea of striking Iran’s civilian infrastructure “vile on every level.”
The clock now runs against a two-week ceasefire that expires Wednesday, leaving the White House with a public warning, a legal fight and a choice about how far “maximum leverage” is meant to go.