U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
A retired general is calling President Donald Trump's latest threat a "war crime" if he were to follow through on the pledge.
Trump posted on TruthSocial Tuesday morning, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"
Speaking to CNN about the post, retired Gen. Steve Anderson said that Americans already knew Trump "was a pretty badpresident, but now we know thathe's an absolutely terriblecommander in chief as well. Imean, he continues to vacillate.It offers contradictorymessaging about what's going on."
Even in the TruthSocial post, Trump is saying "God Bless the Great People of Iran" after threatening to kill them all.
"Does he support the Iranian people? Does he not? Does he want regime change? Does he not? [Are] the allies with us? Does he need them? Does he not? I mean, it goes on and on and on," the retired general told CNN.
"This guy is just not competent in terms of leading this force. He said he has not set clear objectives — clear definable objectives that the military can truly execute," said Anderson.
Trump's deadline is 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, but the general expects Trump will back down.
And I think that at 8 p.m.tonight, I believe that he'llfigure out a way to eitherextend the deadline, becausethere's no way that he can dowhat he says he's going to do,which is to bomb every singlecivilian target in the theaterand in Iran," he said.
Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier explained that striking civilians and civilian infrastructure puts Trump in "war crimes territory."
If "you unduly harm civiliansmoving forward, if the U.S. doesthat, no one is going to want tofight together with U.S. forces," she warned.
Anderson agreed, saying that if Trump makes good on the promise, "itwould be the commitment of a great war crime."
"I'm old enough to remember the Nuremberg trials and how we've held the Germans accountable after what they — theatrocities they committed during World War II,' he said. "And I'd hate to think, you know, five, ten years from now, we'd be doing the same kind of thing with American soldiers and leaders ... [about] decisions that were being directed by the president of the United States that are illegal."