In a follow-up to a press conference where Trump bragged about rescuing a missing airman, he threatened to annihilate Iran. Early on April 7, he said on his Truth Social platform, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
Several times, the world has heard this promise that if Iran doesn’t accede to his demands, most urgently opening the Strait of Hormuz, but before those words, the U.S. began striking various sites in Kharg Island, off the coast of Iran’s mainland. In effect, the threat to destroy every bridge and power plant, as well as other parts of the country’s infrastructure, has begun, which many military analysts view as possible war crimes.
At this press conference, when Trump was asked if he was worried about committing war crimes, he refused to answer. Now, his actions speak louder than his silence on the issue. While the more than 90-minute press conference on Monday included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, it was mainly a victory lap for the leaders, and another “litany of Trump’s greatest hits,” as one commentator observed.
No mention was made of the aircraft damaged during the mission; it was all done to perfection, they agreed. Meanwhile, millions of Iranians have volunteered to place their bodies around the targeted sites, an action that is in defiance of Trump’s strategy to inspire the masses to overthrow their government.
“We” was the operative word uttered by Trump during the press conference, as though he was personally involved in rescuing the airman. At the same time as Trump’s boasts, the Artemis II mission around the moon put the astronauts the farthest any had been in space; let us hope that this war with Iran is nowhere near that length.