The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board expressed alarm at President Donald Trump's new threats to carpet-bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran — a vow he leveled at the regime if they do not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.
This threat follows days of Trump threatening to go after such infrastructure, but he is now taking this to a new, and specific, level.
"On Monday, state media said Iran had rejected a temporary cease-fire in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Controlling the Strait is Iran’s only defense at this point, since two shootdowns out of 13,000 U.S. combat sorties does not an air defense make," wrote the board. "The regime countered by demanding a permanent cease-fire and full sanctions relief, but without the nuclear and other concessions to make it worth the ink. This directs all eyes to Mr. Trump’s Tuesday night deadline for Iran to reopen Hormuz."
If that deadline isn't met, Trump announced this week, then "we have a plan" where “every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business.”
"We will soon find out who’s calling whose bluff, but don’t expect Iran’s regime to care much about what strikes like those would do to its people. Taken literally, Mr. Trump is proposing to hit many targets that would harm Iranian civilians, which could spark a refugee crisis," wrote the board. "Striking indiscriminately at critical infrastructure would be wrong as well as unwise, punishing the Iranian people we need on our side."
Worse still, said the board, attacks of this kind "could give Iranians all the suffering with none of the freedom."
Not all strikes against bridges and power plants are a war crime, the board noted — if that infrastructure serves a key military purpose, it could be a valid target. That said, "not every energy target will meet that standard, and the military benefit doesn’t justify plunging 90 million people into darkness."