Trump begrudgingly backs down from war crime threat against Iran cultural sites

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CSPAN)

last updated 7 January 2020

President Trump backed off his threats against Iran's cultural sites, albeit begrudgingly.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Trump said he likes to obey the law, and if international agreements forbid him from targeting protected heritage sites in Iran, he'll stick to them. The president sent a tweet over the weekend hinting that places of cultural importance to Iran were among potential retaliatory U.S. targets should Iran launch any sort of attack against U.S. interests in the wake of the death of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq last week. The threat led to intense backlash in Iran, the U.S. — even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it was "not appropriate" — and the rest of the world because protected sites are, well, protected and therefore off-limits, even in bellicose times.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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