Monday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said the bombing, which allegedly killed over 100 Iranian schoolgirls, is possibly a war crime.
Host Kasie Hunt said, “You say it’s an illegal war. You also posted this today. ‘Let’s be clear, targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. The world has called out Russia for doing exactly this in Ukraine. If Trump and Hegseth follow Putin’s playbook, they must be held accountable. Now, you were talking about targeting Iran’s power grid there. So if the president goes through with this, what would the appropriate sanction be?”
Van Hollen said, “Well, that would be a war crime. If the president just goes and targets Iran’s infrastructure, civilian infrastructure, there are very narrow circumstances where a country can target infrastructure for military purposes. But the president has said here is unless you open the Strait of Hormuz, we’re going to blow up all your civilian infrastructure, which is clearly a violation of international law. And so the president should be held accountable in international tribunals or in the United States.”
He added, “There are ways that people can bring cases, you know, against individuals in the United States who have committed war crimes. Obviously, while the president is in the white House, this Supreme Court has made it much more difficult to hold the president accountable. But when he leaves office, he could still be vulnerable to accountability through the courts and, obviously, international tribunals as well. But again, hopefully we won’t get to that point. We should also have an investigation into exactly what happened when a U.S. Tomahawk missile killed over 100 Iranian schoolgirls. I mean, we have a secretary of defense who said he wanted to get rid of what he said were stupid rules of engagement. Those rules of engagement are designed to uphold international law and prevent civilian harm.”
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