Jeff Merkley

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Monday condemned President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure and urged U.S. service members to refuse any orders that could constitute a war crime.

“President Trump’s profanity-laden Easter threat to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure—power plants and bridges—are the words of a frustrated and immoral madman,“ Merkley wrote in a post on X. ”Many experts agree that such attacks would be war crimes under international law.“

He concluded: “To our military leaders, remember this: You are legally required to refuse orders to commit war crimes.”

Merkley’s message came in response to the dire Easter Sunday ultimatum Trump sent to the Iranian regime amid the ongoing conflict. In it, Trump threatened to bomb critical Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s oil is transported.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F---in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” Trump posted on Sunday without censoring expletives.

Merkley warned that the president’s threats would constitute war crimes if they were carried out by U.S. forces, a claim military experts and Trump administration critics have also presented.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, echoed Merkley’s concerns.

“GOP leaders need to stop him,” Murphy wrote on X. “Never mind that blowing up bridges and power plants and killing innocent Iranians won’t reopen the Strait. It’s also a clear war crime.”

In an open letter published last week, more than 100 international law experts warned that the conduct and the rhetoric of U.S. officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes.”

The letter was signed by international law experts across the United States, including senior professors; leaders of prominent international law associations, non-governmental organizations, and legal clinics; former government legal advisors; and military law experts and former Judge Advocates General (JAGs).

They argued that the U.S. attack on Iran violates the U.N. Charter, citing no evidence of an imminent threat that would justify preemptive action. They also noted that Trump launched the war without congressional authorization, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“We are gravely concerned that the conduct and threats outlined here are causing serious harm to civilians in the Middle East, and that they also contribute to escalating the conflict, damaging the environment and the global economy, and that they risk degrading the rule of law and fundamental norms that protect every nation’s civilians,” the joint letter read.

Under the laws of armed conflict, strikes on civilian infrastructure are permitted only when military advantage clearly outweighs civilian harm — a high legal bar that, if breached, can constitute a war crime.

International military law — codified in the Geneva and Hague Conventions, the Nuremberg Principles and the U.N. Charter — explicitly prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Trump has dismissed claims that he could be directing U.S. troops to commit war crimes.

At the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, Trump lashed out at a PBS reporter who asked him how bombing Iran’s energy infrastructure would help the Iranian people.

“Well, that’s a radical left group of lunatics that you’re with,” Trump told the reporter. “Let me just tell you — very fair question — the Iranian people, when they don’t hear bombs go off they’re upset. They want to hear bombs because they want to be free."

Asked by another reporter how striking Iran’s bridges and power plants would not constitute war crimes, Trump said the Iranian regime “killed protestors, they’re animals.”

“And we have to stop them and we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. Very simple,” Trump said.