United Nations: Targeting civilian infrastructure is a "war crime"
Turk's statement read, "Under international law, a deliberate attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Everyone responsible for international crimes must be brought to justice through a competent court.".
Bridges and power stations
Turk's remarks came as US President Donald Trump his rhetoric against Iran, threatening the "total destruction" of the country's basic infrastructure, particularly bridges and power plants, if Iran did not agree to a deal by Tuesday evening.
Hours before the deadline set by Trump for Tehran expired, the Israeli occupation army announced it had launched a wave of strikes targeting “infrastructure sites” across Iran.
incitement speech
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “An entire civilization will die tonight, never to return. I don’t want it, but it probably will,” if Iran does not heed his call to reach an agreement.
Turk did not explicitly mention the United States, Iran, or Israel in his statement, but said, “I condemn the torrent of inflammatory rhetoric used in the Middle East war over the past two weeks by all sides.”
He specifically referred to “recent threats to annihilate an entire civilization and target civilian infrastructure.”
He said, “It is abhorrent,” and warned that “carrying out such threats amounts to the most serious international crimes.”
Containing the escalation
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that “threats that spread fear and terror among civilians are unacceptable and must stop immediately.”
He urged the international community to “take urgent steps to contain the escalation and help protect the lives of all civilians.”
