Marco Rubio on War Crimes accusation

Marco Rubio Pushes Back on War Crimes Questions, Citing Alleged Iranian Hospital Killings

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked by reporters on Thursday to respond to Amnesty International’s accusation that U.S. and Israeli actions in Iran amount to “war crimes.”

Rubio rejected the setup instead of accepting a one-sided lecture about American and Israeli conduct. He turned attention to the Iranian regime, saying Amnesty should focus on what he described as the regime’s murder of tens of thousands of its own citizens in Tehran and elsewhere. He also challenged the organization’s credibility directly, calling Amnesty International “a fraud.”

That is not the sort of answer usually produced by a room full of carefully polished talking points. Rubio’s point was plain: before international groups rush to condemn the United States and Israel, they should account for the conduct of governments that brutalize their own people.

Rubio then described the conduct he said Amnesty should investigate. According to his account, the Iranian regime has killed tens of thousands of protesters in cold blood in recent months. He said the regime has also sent people into hospitals when injured protesters were receiving care, murdering some patients in their beds and, in some cases, the doctors or nurses who treated them. 

Rubio labeled those acts war crimes and crimes against humanity, emphasizing that the victims were Iranian citizens and the alleged perpetrators were acting against their own people.

The details make the dispute more than a familiar Washington argument over wording. They put a direct question before organizations that claim to defend human rights: Will they give the same attention to Iran’s alleged abuses that they give to accusations aimed at the Trump administration and Israel? Public pressure often travels in only one direction, and Rubio clearly wants to reverse the traffic.

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