Trump threatens to ‘blow up’ desalination plants in Iran if no deal reached

Legal expert says targeting civilian sites would be ‘collective punishment’, which is prohibited under laws of war.United States President Donald Trump has renewed his threat to “blow up” a range of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including all of the country’s desalination plants, in a move that would threaten the water source for millions of people and that experts say would be illegal.Trump has been regularly warning Iran about possible US strikes against energy and electricity facilities, but on Monday, he added water stations to the list of targets in his latest threat.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Schools, water, industry: What civilian targets have US, Israel, Iran hit?list 2 of 3Trump ‘pretty sure’ of Iran deal, but can Pakistan-led efforts end the war?list 3 of 3Why have the US and Israel bombed more than 75 Iranian police facilities?end of list“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump wrote in a social media post.He added that “great progress” has been made in the talks.“But, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’,” the US president said.International law explicitly bans making civilian sites the “object of attack or of reprisals”.Yusra Suedi, assistant professor in international law at the University of Manchester, said Trump’s threat “reinforces the climate of impunity around collective punishment in warfare”.“This is clearly an act of collective punishment, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law. You can’t deliberately harm an entire civilian population to pressure its government,” Suedi told Al Jazeera.Fears of collective punishment and war crimesThe Fourth Geneva Convention says: “Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”