Trump's War Crimes Ultimatum: Hegseth and Fox Cheer On Attacks on Iranian Civilians

The Ultimatum

Donald Trump has issued Iran a deadline: hand over all nuclear material and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or watch American missiles destroy the country's electrical grid. It's the kind of threat that would normally trigger alarm bells throughout the Pentagon and State Department -- deliberate attacks on civilian power infrastructure are unambiguous war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.

But this time, there are no guardrails. Trump's Defense Secretary isn't pushing back. He's cheering it on.

Pete Hegseth has spent years on Fox News calling for exactly these kinds of strikes. As a weekend host on Fox & Friends, he repeatedly urged Trump to target Iran's "energy production facilities," "oil refineries," "political sites," and even "cultural sites" -- all protected under international humanitarian law.

In January 2020, after the U.S. assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Hegseth laid out a strategy that sounds eerily familiar today: "What better time than now to say, we're starting the clock, you've got a week, you've got X amount of time before we start taking out your energy production facilities? We take out key infrastructure. We take out your missile sites. We take out nuclear developments."

Back then, Defense Secretary Mark Esper acted as a brake on Trump's impulses. When Trump floated attacking Iranian cultural sites, Esper publicly ruled them out as violations of the "laws of armed conflict."

Hegseth doesn't believe those laws should apply to the U.S. military.

A Secretary Who Questions the Geneva Conventions

In his 2024 book "The War on Warriors," Hegseth openly questioned whether the United States should follow the Geneva Conventions at all.

"Should we follow the Geneva Conventions?" he wrote. "What if we treated the enemy the way they treated us? Would that not be an incentive for the other side to reconsider their barbarism?"

He continued: "Makes me wonder, in 2024 -- if you want to win -- how can anyone write universal rules about killing other people in open conflict? Especially against enemies who fight like savages, disregarding human life in every single instance."

This isn't just rhetorical posturing. Since taking office, Hegseth has systematically dismantled Pentagon offices designed to prevent civilian casualties. According to The New York Times, he has "fired and reassigned uniformed lawyers and dismantled many of the offices set up to prevent the targeting of civilians and related sites." He's replaced senior military leaders who won't embrace his vision of "lethality" at any cost.

Hegseth has also championed U.S. service members accused or convicted of war crimes. During a 2019 Fox appearance discussing a soldier charged with murdering a captured Afghan man, Hegseth said: "If he committed premeditated murder, then I did as well. What do you think you do in war? Put us all in jail."

Now he's in charge of the world's most powerful military, and Trump is asking him to execute a campaign that could kill thousands of Iranian civilians by cutting off their electricity.

The Fox Propaganda Machine Revs Up

Trump has always governed with one eye on Fox News, and the network's biggest stars are pushing him toward escalation. Sean Hannity opened Monday's show with a countdown: "Tick tock. In 23 hours, that will determine the fate of Iran's rogue regime."

After playing clips of Trump's threats, Hannity warned Iran's leaders to "think carefully because President Trump has proven again and again he does not make empty threats."

The message from Fox is clear: follow through or look weak. It's the same dynamic that helped push Trump toward strikes on Iran in the first place, with the network's propagandists acting as a second cabinet that often carries more weight than his official advisers.

The difference this time is that Trump's actual Defense Secretary is just as bloodthirsty as his TV cabinet.

What Comes Next?

Trump has repeatedly moved deadlines before, so it's possible this ultimatum will pass without action. But if he does give the order to strike Iran's power plants, there's no question Hegseth will execute it "with relish," as the source material notes.

The question then becomes: what happens when destroying Iran's electrical grid doesn't force the regime to capitulate? What's the next target set? More civilian infrastructure? Water treatment plants? Hospitals?

Hegseth has already shown he's willing to disregard international law. Trump has repeatedly said he doesn't care whether the strikes are legal. And Fox is egging them both on.

There are no adults in the room this time. No Mark Esper to publicly draw red lines. No Pentagon lawyers with any real authority to push back. Just a president with authoritarian impulses, a defense secretary who thinks the Geneva Conventions are optional, and a propaganda network that measures success in ratings and loyalty to Trump.

Iran's deadline may come and go. But the infrastructure for war crimes is already in place.