President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages,” a phrase borrowed from a notorious Vietnam War-era general. In a primetime address on Wednesday, Trump said U.S. forces would “hit” Tehran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks” and “bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.” The threat explicitly targeted Iran’s power grid, which would be considered a war crime under U.S. law.
Trump appeared to follow through on Thursday, posting a video of an explosion collapsing what he called “the biggest bridge in Iran” and warning that the American military hadn’t “even started destroying what’s left.” He added: “Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”
The phrase “bomb them back into the Stone Age” was popularised by General Curtis LeMay, the head of the U.S. Strategic Air Command. In his 1965 autobiography, LeMay wrote that he wanted to demand North Vietnam “stop their aggression, or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.” LeMay advocated using sustained strategic bombing to destroy cities, ports and infrastructure without ground forces.
Trump’s threats echo his previous statements. In 2018, he warned Iran would “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.” In 2019, he said any fight would be “the official end” of Iran. In 2020, he threatened to target 52 Iranian sites, including cultural sites, which would violate international law.
