On the 23rd local time, in response to recent remarks by US officials ignoring international law threatening to attack Iran's civil infrastructure, bridges, and power plants, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bagae issued a statement saying, “No order can be a license to commit war crimes; defending war crimes on the grounds of execution of superior orders does not exempt the perpetrators of war crimes from criminal responsibility.” The statement condemned the US for “sacrificing international humanitarian law and the foundation of human morality and civilization in order to satisfy the never-ending desire for war and murder.” The statement stated that the policy of directives authorizing the destruction of Iran's bridges and power plants is an illegal criminal act. This policy is an act of retaliation and collective punishment, which is clearly prohibited and recognized as a war crime in both international law and the domestic law of the United States. The statement also quoted the United States' Uniform Code of Military Justice and the US Department of Defense's “War Law Handbook”, stressing that “military personnel have legal and moral obligations and refuse to carry out orders from their superiors that clearly violate the law.”

On the 23rd local time, in response to recent remarks by US officials ignoring international law threatening to attack Iran's civil infrastructure, bridges, and power plants, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bagae issued a statement saying, “No order can be a license to commit war crimes; defending war crimes on the grounds of execution of superior orders does not exempt the perpetrators of war crimes from criminal responsibility.” The statement condemned the US for “sacrificing international humanitarian law and the foundation of human morality and civilization in order to satisfy the never-ending desire for war and murder.” The statement stated that the policy of directives authorizing the destruction of Iran's bridges and power plants is an illegal criminal act. This policy is an act of retaliation and collective punishment, which is clearly prohibited and recognized as a war crime in both international law and the domestic law of the United States. The statement also quoted the United States' Uniform Code of Military Justice and the US Department of Defense's “War Law Handbook”, stressing that “military personnel have legal and moral obligations and refuse to carry out orders from their superiors that clearly violate the law.”