Trump walks back his threats to target Iranian cultural sites: 'I like to obey the law'

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Trump walks back his threats to target Iranian cultural sites: 'I like to obey the law'
Donald Trump

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  • President Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed his threats to target Iranian cultural sites following allegations that such measures would violate international law and constitute a war crime.
  • "If that's what the law is, I like to obey the law," Trump said.
  • The president's walk-back will likely come as a relief to senior cabinet officials and advisers, who have bent over backward in recent days to defend his comments.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed his threats to target Iranian sites of cultural importance following allegations that such measures would violate international law and constitute a war crime.

"If that's what the law is, I like to obey the law," Trump said.

Targeting cultural sites with no military value violates international law and multiple treaties. A 2017 UN resolution "condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, including the destruction of religious sites and artifacts."

The UN has also made it clear that carrying out such measures amounts to a war crime.

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"The deliberate destruction of our common cultural heritage constitutes a war crime and represents an attack on humanity as a whole," a representative for then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in 2015.

CNN reported that multiple senior US officials were strongly against targeting and attacking Iranian cultural sites.

"Nothing rallies people like the deliberate destruction of beloved cultural sites. Whether ISIS's destruction of religious monuments, or the burning of the Leuven Library in WWI, history shows targeting locations giving civilization meaning is not only immoral but self-defeating," one of the officials told CNN.

"Consistent with laws and norms of armed conflict, we would respect Iranian culture," a second senior US official said.

A third official, who previously worked under both Trump and Barack Obama, told the outlet, "As a matter of principle, we as a nation and as a military do not attack the culture sites of any adversary."

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It's unclear why Trump waited until Tuesday to reverse his comments given the widespread internal and external opposition to the suggestion. Nevertheless, the president's walk-back will likely come as a relief to senior cabinet officials and advisers, who have bent over backward in recent days to defend his comments.

Trump first raised the notion of attacking Iranian cultural sites on Saturday, after the US announced that Trump had ordered a drone strike that killed Iran's top military general and a widely revered figure within the country, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

"Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently ... hundreds of Iranian protesters," the president tweeted Saturday evening.

"He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years," Trump added. "Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have ... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!"

After initially backing down from his comments following swift scrutiny and allegations that he was advocating a war crime, Trump doubled down while talking to reporters on Air Force One over the weekend.

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"They're allowed to kill our people. They're allowed to torture and maim our people. They're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people," he said. "And we're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn't work that way."

Trump's comments attracted sharp backlash not just from the US but from Iran, which designated the president, the Pentagon, and the US military as terrorists following Soleimani's assassination.

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