White House Officials Scramble To Explain Away Trump's War Crimes Threats

Over the past several days, President Donald Trump stated that if Iran were to retaliate against the United States over the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, he is prepared to select one of 52 sites for a military strike – including culturally significant sites. And while Trump has reiterated that he’s serious about these targets, those around him are scrambling to frame his words very differently.

Trump announced his list of Iranian targets via Twitter on Saturday, including the cultural sites, and said that these targets “WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”

Despite Trump’s repeated insistence that Iranian cultural sites wouldn’t be spared in a conflict with the United States, those around the president are working overtime to quell war crime concerns.

Appearing recently on CNN, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not seem eager to comment on whether or not the U.S. would target cultural sites in Iran. Refusing to outright reject the notion, Pompeo said that “we're going to do the things that are right and the things that are consistent with American law.”

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Pompeo again sidestepped the question about striking cultural targets. “Our responses are lawful,” he said, adding that “the president will take every action necessary to respond should Iran decide to escalate.”

White House spokesperson Kellyanne Conway has also been busy trying to spin Trump’s words. While she claimed that Trump “didn't say he's targeting cultural sites,” Conway also said that the president had “identified those sites and said it may happen if Iran retaliates in a certain way.”

While Pompeo and Conway are busy attempting to steer public conversation away from Trump’s threats to strike Iranian cultural targets – which would, according to most experts, qualify as an international war crime – White House staff are urgently opposing such a plan behind closed doors.

CNN recently spoke with two insiders who said that they and others believe that not only would destroying cultural targets be legally problematic, doing so would also be counter-productive to the U.S.’ goals. As one official put it: “Nothing rallies people like the deliberate destruction of a beloved cultural site.”

U.S. allies have also been quick to condemn Trump’s threats. The United Kingdom recently rebuked Trump, stating that the UK has “been very clear that cultural sites are protected under international law and we would expect that to be respected.”