US President Donald Trump issued a stark threat Sunday to target Iran's civilian water infrastructure if ceasefire negotiations in Islamabad fail to produce results "shortly," raising immediate concerns among international legal experts about potential violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the United States would "blow up every water treatment plant, every desalination facility" in Iran if the Islamic Republic does not agree to halt its nuclear enrichment program and withdraw support for regional proxy forces. The comments represent the most explicit threat yet to civilian infrastructure in the escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran.
"They need to understand we're serious," Trump told the traveling press pool. "No water, no country. It's that simple."
The threat comes as negotiations in Pakistan's capital entered their third day Sunday with little sign of progress. According to sources familiar with the talks, Iranian negotiators have rejected the administration's 15-point peace proposal as "unrealistic" and "designed to guarantee failure."
Legal experts immediately flagged the threat as a potential war crime under international humanitarian law. Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor of international law at Notre Dame, told reporters that deliberately targeting civilian water infrastructure constitutes a violation of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which the United States has not ratified but which reflects customary international law.
"Water treatment facilities are protected civilian objects," said in a statement.





