By Alireza Bahrami
TEHRAN: After attacking several universities, schools, pharmaceutical factories and the Pasteur Institute in Iran, the US military attacked and destroyed the highest bridge in Iran and the region, near Tehran, on Thursday evening with heavy bombs. These attacks have now raised the question of war crimes.
The B1 bridge was built on a higher elevation than another long and high bridge, dating back to the 1980s.
The bridge was due to open soon and complete the Tehran-northern Iran freeway.
Although the concrete bridge had not yet opened, initial estimates recorded 10 deaths and 100 injuries.
The reason was that the bridge was built above the old Tehran-northern Iran road. Also, some houses in the village of Bilqan were located under the bridge.
But there were two other terrible reasons. One was that while the relief effort was underway, a second attack with a 1,000-kilogram bomb was carried out.
Second, Thursday was the last day of the Persian New Year (Nowruz) holiday in Iran. On this day, people go out for a picnic in nature, according to an ancient tradition.
Every year, a large number of people have picnics on this day around the river under the bridge. This year, despite the war conditions, some people did not want to give up this tradition. The intensity of the explosion was such that its fragments were thrown up to a radius of 500 meters and hit people.
The Revolutionary Guard immediately published a list of Israeli bridges that would be legitimate targets. But Israel immediately announced that the attack on the bridge was not their work.
Of course, President Trump had announced the day before that we had already destroyed 2 beautiful bridges in Iran and that we had 2 more beautiful bridges on the list. But there was no need to speculate, because Trump published a post a short time later and proudly admitted that the attack on the bridges was the work of the US military.
The US President had said in a speech the day before that we would attack Iran’s infrastructure and return them to the Stone Age where they belong.
The US Secretary of War also repeated this statement on the X network and wrote: Stone Age! These words of Trump prompted many reactions in the world. Many described them as a sign of racism and a war crime. The reactions also included senior political leaders and officials. The President of France, the Prime Minister of Ireland and some members of the US Congress also strongly criticized these words.
The reactions in the Iranian media and social media were also widespread before the attack on the bridge; mutual reactions that were themselves racist in a way; because most of the reactions were based on the fact that the United States has a 250-year history and Iran has a history of several thousand years.
During the time of the Persian Empire, the Europeans later formed the United States by massacring the Indians, painted their faces and attacked each other with primitive weapons. They were likely referring to the Vikings and the like.
But among the reactions, there were a few that were specific and thought-provoking. The Iranian Foreign Minister’s response, which was a kind of threat. He said on X-Net: “Of course, keep in mind that in the Stone Age, no oil or gas was exported from the Middle East. Do the people of the United States intend to turn back time like this?”
His writing could be understood as follows: by destroying Iran’s infrastructure, we will destroy the infrastructure related to the interests of the United States in the region and its allies, and the oil and gas export facilities in the Persian Gulf will be destroyed. This is a threat that Iranian officials had previously announced.But the second reaction, among the sarcastic and threatening responses, was very thoughtful. Mohammad Safa, a senior UN diplomat who resigned a few days ago in protest of this war, wrote on X-Net: “Imagine if Iran bombed and destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge in California, what would you call it? TERRORISTS. The U.S bombed and destroyed the highest bridge in Iran, the B1 bridge, why do you call it ‘PEACE’? Bombing a bridge is a war crime under international humanitarian law.”
Trump’s opponents have been repeatedly saying that bombing a school, hospital, mosque, church, pharmaceutical factory, power plant, inner-city gasoline depot, and bridge is a war crime under international law.
All these places have been the targets of missile attacks and bombings in Iran and Tehran by the United States and Israel.
(Photo: Iranian Journalists’ Club)
The Iranian embassy in London also wrote in a post to political leaders around the world: “History will judge you. Do not side with Nazism.”
Reza Nasri, an Iranian-American professor at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on international law, wrote to US Vice President J.D. Vance: “Remove Trump by activating the 25th Amendment, or you will be complicit in war crimes yourself.”
Any order that violates the laws of war is inherently illegal. “Soldiers and commanders who carry out such orders can be tried personally in international courts. The excuse of ‘I was ordered to do so’ has also been disallowed since the Nuremberg trials.”
