The U.S. military warned civilians in Iran on Sunday to stay home as the United States and Israel continued their airstrikes against Iran’s weapons systems.
“U.S. forces strongly urge civilians in Iran to stay at home,” reads the message posted on X. “The Iranian regime is knowingly endangering innocent lives by using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations, including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles.”
The statement was sent by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, to reporters via email and posted on social media, but the effectiveness of warning civilians in a country where internet access has been shut down remains unclear.
“Locations used for military purposes lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law,” the warning added. “The U.S. military takes every feasible precaution to minimize harm to civilians but cannot guarantee civilian safety in or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes.”
A U.S. military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the announcement, said the warning was transmitted in Persian, Arabic and other languages, and said that the United States was coordinating with regional news outlets to spread the warning in addition to using Central Command’s social media platforms. The official added that the military would use Iranians outside the country to communicate the message to relatives still in Iran, but declined to explain how that would work in practice.
The U.S. military has dropped leaflets from warplanes as recently as 2016 during the campaign against Islamic State fighters in Mosul, Iraq. Those messages are intended to directly convey messages to both civilians and enemy combatants in areas where other lines of communication are degraded and have been used in conflict since at least World War I, according to the U.S. Army.
When the United States and Israel began their strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, President Trump encouraged Iranian civilians to “take over” the government. The White House did not immediately respond to a question regarding whether Central Command’s warning on Sunday contradicted the president’s encouragement at the beginning of the war.
In a news release announcing the warning, Central Command called the Iranian government a “terrorist regime” that “blatantly disregards the safety of innocent people” by “using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations.”
During wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon officially prohibited U.S. forces from targeting civilian locations such as mosques, schools and hospitals so long as they were not being actively used by insurgents to conducts hostilities. Nevertheless, U.S. strikes in the Middle East and elsewhere have resulted in scores of civilian deaths.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump blamed Iran for an airstrike that hit an Iranian elementary school and killed scores of children. An analysis by The New York Times indicates that the school was most likely hit by an American airstrike.
Eric Schmitt, Parin Behrooz and Minho Kim contributed reporting
John Ismay is a reporter covering the Pentagon for The Times. He served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Navy.
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