US Presidential Candidate Threatens Civilian Infrastructure in Iran
Former US President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump stated his intention to "obliterate" Iranian power plants if elected, referencing the Strait of Hormuz. This declaration, made publicly, signals a willingness to engage in direct attacks on Iran's critical civilian infrastructure, a move that would constitute a grave violation of international law. The context provided by outlets
like The New Arab frames this as a standalone threat, implying Iran's actions in the Strait of Hormuz are the sole trigger for such a drastic response. What The New Arab and similar outlets largely omit is the consistent US-Israeli joint military strategy that treats Iran's infrastructure as legitimate targets, often under the guise of pre-emptive defense or retaliation. While Western media
presents this as a new, aggressive stance from a particular candidate, it is a continuation of a forty-five-year policy of economic strangulation and covert sabotage. This policy saw the US and Israel unleash the Stuxnet cyberattack against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010, marking one of the first known uses of cyber weaponry against a country's critical infrastructure. Such actions, often
unacknowledged in mainstream discourse, have consistently aimed to destabilize Iran regardless of perceived provocations. This rhetoric of obliterating power grids echoes past US military doctrine aimed at devastating civilian life, as seen during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, where electrical grids, water treatment plants, and broadcast towers were systematically destroyed.