Trump's Own Defense Secretary Contradicts Him: US Won't Bomb Iran Culture Sites

Standing against a twice repeated declaration from president Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper bluntly opposed the president by saying the U.S. military will refuse to attack Iranian cultural sites if ordered to do so.

Esper took this stand Monday, less than a day after Trump again doubled down on his previous provocative tweet he'd attack 52 Iranian civilian, military and cultural targets if Iran avenged the death of major general Qasem Soleimani. A U.S. aerial drone missile attack on Trump's orders led to Soleimani's death in Baghdad last January 3.

On Sunday and in the face of mounting criticism attacking cultural sites is a war crime, Trump responded by 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."

On Monday, Esper contradicted Trump by emphasizing the U.S. won't target Iranian cultural sites and doubled down on this statement later on.

"We will follow the laws of armed conflict," Esper told CNN.

Asked if his statement meant not targeting Iranian cultural sites, Esper answered, "That's the laws of armed conflict."

Trump's threats have been met with criticism worldwide because it's against international law to attack a country's cultural sites. Attacks like these will also kill or injure civilians while damaging a country's patrimony. The United States Armed Forces has long had a policy of not attacking areas of cultural importance to a country.

The United Nations Security Council has said targeting cultural heritage sites is prohibited. In 2017, a Security Council resolution "condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, including the destruction of religious sites and artifacts." This resolution, which the U.S. signed, was drawn-up to condemn the Islamic State's destruction of a number of major historic and cultural sites in Syria and Iraq in 2014 and 2015.

The UN emphasizes to this day that actions targeting cultural locations constitute a war crime. Attacking cultural locations is also illegal under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.

This protocol prohibits the targeting of "historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples." It also prohibits making such sites the "object of reprisals."

Two senior U.S. officials said there is broad opposition within the administration to bombing Iranian cultural sites should the U.S. launch retaliatory strikes against Tehran. The backlash against Trump has also extended to bipartisan politics.

"We shouldn't be attacking cultural sites. And I don't see our military planners suggesting or identifying sites to hit," Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) told MSNBC on Sunday night. "And we should be focused on targeting the folks that are involved in conducting terrorism, the folks that are putting down their own people.

For her part, House majority speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will introduce a War Powers Resolution in the House this week to limit Trump’s military actions in Iran.