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Is the US committing war crimes by targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure?

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · · 913 words · By Peter Beaumont
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What to know about Is the US committing war crimes by targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure?

Donald Trump, other senior US officials and their cheerleaders appear to be embracing attacks – and threats of attacks – on Iranian civilian infrastructure, which legal experts say appears to constitute serious war crimes under international law.

Claims checked 14
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left20%
Center60%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Donald Trump, other senior US officials and their cheerleaders appear to be embracing attacks – and threats of attacks – on Iranian civilian infrastructure, which legal experts say appears to constitute serious war crimes under international law.

Why it matters

In his rambling national address on Wednesday, the US president warned that if Iran did not reach an unspecified deal with him, US forces would “hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants” and “bring [Iran] back to the stone ages – where they…

Common ground

Following through on that threat a day later, Trump posted images of a strike on an the unfinished B1 bridge near Tehran, warning: “Much more to follow!” Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/apr/03/us-war-crimes-iran-civilian-infrastr…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 7
schedule Pending 4
verified Verified By Reference 3
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Claim 1: “The US and western allies have launched questionable attacks on civilian infrastructure before, including against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf war and on Serbian power plants.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 2: “Civilian objects are protected against attack, unless and for such time as they are military objectives.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the ICC statute claims.
help
Claim 3: “Following through on that threat a day later, Trump posted images of a strike on an the unfinished B1 bridge near Tehran, warning: 'Much more to follow!'”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim about Trump sharing strike images.
help
Claim 4: “In his rambling national address on Wednesday, the US president warned that if Iran did not reach an unspecified deal with him, US forces would 'hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants' and 'bring [Iran] back to the stone ages – where they belong'.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim about Trump's threat.
schedule
Claim 5: “International law permits attacks on energy plants and other ostensibly civilian targets only if determined that they primarily support military activity.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 6: “The experts said they were 'seriously concerned about strikes that have hit schools, health facilities, and homes', noting an attack on a school in Tehran on the first day of the war that killed more than 160 children and teachers.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim about specific events.
verified
Claim 7: “The international criminal court issued arrest warrants for the Russian politician and a former defence minister, Sergei Shoigu and the Russian general Valery Gerasimov, who were accused of directing widespread attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure and of causing excessive harm to civilians.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia evidence discusses Russian war crimes and the Russo-Ukrainian war but does not mention ICC arrest warrants for specific officials.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Russian war crimes are violations of international criminal law including war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide which the official armed and paramilitary forces of Russia have …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_war_crimes
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine. It then supported Russian separatist armed…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_war
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the existing war between the two countries that began when Ru…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_war_(2022–pres…
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Claim 8: “The crippling of Iran’s power plants would be 'devastating to the Iranian people', cutting off electricity to hospitals, water supplies and other vital civilian needs.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 9: “The statute of the international criminal court also makes it explicit that it is a war crime intentionally to direct attacks against civilian objects if they 'are not military objectives'.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the ICC statute claims.
verified
Claim 10: “Donald Trump, other senior US officials and their cheerleaders appear to be embracing attacks – and threats of attacks – on Iranian civilian infrastructure, which legal experts say appears to constitute serious war crimes under international law.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia evidence only describes military actions and negotiations but does not mention legal experts' analysis of war crimes. No direct confirmation of legal experts' assertions.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 23 June 2025, Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in retaliation for the United States strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June as part of the Twelve-Day War. The attack, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iranian_strikes_on_Al_Ude…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On April 12, 2025, Iran and the United States began a series of negotiations aimed at reaching a nuclear peace agreement, following a letter from U.S. president Donald Trump to Iranian supreme leader …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–2026_Iran–United_States_n…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel started a war with surprise airstrikes on sites and cities across Iran, assassinating Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several other Iranian officials …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war
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Claim 11: “Attacks on civilian objects by both Iran, the US and Israel have prompted a pointed response from the president of the international committee, Mirjana Spoljaric, who said war crimes may be being committed.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 12: “Under article 52 of the first additional protocol to the Geneva conventions of 1977, 'civilian objects', such as infrastructure, are defined not in themselves but by what they are not: military objectives whose destruction offers no definite military advantage.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the legal definition claims.
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Claim 13: “The letter highlighted Trump’s comment last month that the US may conduct strikes on Iran 'just for fun'.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim about Trump's alleged statements.
verified
Claim 14: “More than 100 US experts in international law from universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of California, said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials 'raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes'.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia evidence includes unrelated entries about media and video games, providing no support for claims about legal experts.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — "Not Like Us" is a diss track by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar released amidst his highly publicized feud with the Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on May 4, 2024, through Interscope Record…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Like_Us
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Last of Us is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United State…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This Is Us is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents and their…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Us
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.