Donald Trump Threatened Iran With War Crimes. Mike Pompeo Doesn’t See a Problem With That.

“We will be bold in protecting American interests, and we will do so in a way that is consistent with the rule of law.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks on CNN's "State of the Union" on January 5, 2020./CNN

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump sent a string of tweets on Saturday night threatening further military action against Iran—including strikes on key cultural sites, which could be considered a war crime under international law—in response to Iran’s promised retaliation for the killing of its most powerful military official last week. On Sunday, in appearances on the morning political shows, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signaled his support for that strategy.

Trump tweeted that his administration had identified 52 Iranian sites—a number, he explained, that represents the 52 Americans taken hostage in the American embassy in Tehran in 1979—to “HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD” if Iran strikes US assets as retribution against a US airstrike that killed Maj. General Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s top commander. Some of the sites, Trump wrote, are “at the very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.” Both the Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual and the internationally agreed-upon Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on recognized historic monuments, works of art, or places of worship known as sites of cultural or spiritual heritage.

When asked about the tweets on CNN’s State of the Union, Pompeo backed the president. “The American people should know that we will not waver,” he said. “We will be bold in protecting American interests, and we will do so in a way that is consistent with the rule of law.” When host Jake Tapper asked about the potential violation of international law, Pompeo did not express concern over the chosen cultural site targets.

The Trump administration has maintained that killing Suleimani had been a necessary step to prevent Iran from carrying out an “imminent” attack that would have left hundreds dead. On Saturday, the New York Times reported that some administration officials had been concerned that the intelligence about that planned attack had been thin. According to the Times, military officials gave Trump a number of options of how to proceed in response to that threat—including killing Suleimani—and were reportedly shocked when he chose that option, which they deemed extreme. Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence reportedly had been among the most hawkish in their encouragement of the strike.

In an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation later Sunday morning, however, Pompeo was evasive when host Margaret Brennan asked if the threat had been removed after the strike against Suleimani. “There are constant threats,” Pompeo said. “We are focused on delivering a strategy.”

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate