Islam Times - UK Govt Denounces Trump’s Remarks on Bombing Iranian Cultural Sites

Islam Times - British government has rebuked Donald Trump after the US president threatened to target Iran’s cultural sites, warning that “there are international conventions in place” that forbid such actions.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman refused to criticize Trump directly but made clear the UK government would not support such a course of action, after the US president said he could target 52 Iranian sites if Iran retaliated over the assassination of anti-terrorism commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

The US regime, in a drone strike that Iranian officials called state terrorism, hit a two-car convoy carrying General Soleimani and his associate deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis along with eight others near Baghdad International Airport.

The US regime justified the action against the man widely regarded as the second most powerful figure in Iran – after the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – by claiming Soleimani was plotting imminent attacks against American diplomats and military personnel. The claim, however Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi denounced the allegation, saying that Iranian top commander arrived on Friday in Iraq on Baghdad’s official invitation for consultation.

Trump’s comments amount to threatening a war crime because such action would violate international treaties, but he repeated the threat on Sunday, saying: “They’re allowed to kill our people, they’re allowed to torture and maim our people, they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people, and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way.”

Responding to Trump’s latest comments, Johnson’s spokesman said there were “international conventions in place that prevent the destruction of cultural heritage”, implying the UK does not believe such threats would be carried out.

“You can read the international conventions for yourself. It is the 1954 Hague convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict,” he added.