France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law” after U.S. President Donald Trump said the whole of Iran could be “taken out in one night” if Tehran fails to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his self-imposed deadline.
Such attacks “would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle that would be very worrying and, most of all, very damaging to our own interests,” Barrot said, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto warned that the conflict could spiral out of control, citing the 1945 U.S. nuclear bombings of Japan in World War Two, in an interview with Corriere della Sera published Tuesday.
“Just think: it was human beings like us who decided that even Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acceptable means of ending a conflict. Unfortunately, we still possess nuclear weapons, and those who do not have them are seeking to acquire them. We have learnt nothing,” Crosetto said, according to Reuters.
Crosetto also took a jab at those advising Trump, suggesting they are afraid to break with the president.
“One of the problems of this presidency is that no one dares contradict the boss,” he added, per the news agency.