Military planners are revising the target list, according to Politico, as U.S. and Israeli warplanes seek new locations after five weeks of continuous strikes on military targets, and U.S. ground forces are amassing in the region. The dual-use nature of these targets could make them legitimate, officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump finds himself in a bind as America runs out of strategically important targets to strike in Iran.
Trump could send ground troops and open the door to a protracted war already unpopular with the American public, or he could target civilian infrastructure, which would violate international law and lead to accusations of war crimes.
A new option, already used by Israel, could offer a way out, involving bombing civilian locations with the justification that the military also uses them.
Pentagon officials have debated whether such justification is valid. The dispute centers on where to draw the line between military and civilian targets, such as water desalination plants, which could be considered legitimate targets because the military also needs drinking water.
The U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign has largely spared the country's electricity and fuel supply.
However, as frustration grows in the White House over Iran's refusal to capitulate to, at least publicly, rather vague U.S. demands, the target list has expanded.
At the White House annual Easter event, Trump said he is not concerned about bombing civilian power plants and that Iran is actually committing war crimes.
"You know what a war crime is? Having nuclear weapons. Allowing a sick country, with disturbed leadership, to have nuclear weapons. That's a war crime," Trump said.
The Geneva Conventions, which define international humanitarian law, allow some leeway when it comes to targets used by both the military and civilians.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year significantly downsized Pentagon offices that assist in selecting military targets and preventing civilian casualties, which could mean less oversight on these issues.
Hegseth reduced the number of staff working on these issues from 200 to fewer than 40. The dismissed personnel helped military commanders choose targets that would spare civilian lives and investigated attacks after they occurred to reduce civilian casualties in the future.
Last month, Hegseth announced further reductions in the number of lawyers advising commanders on the legality of operations, known as military lawyers. He dismissed Army, Navy, and Air Force lawyers in the early days of the administration.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement condemned Trump's threats to attack infrastructure targets as reckless, dangerous, and indicative of a mindset showing indifference to human life and contempt for religious beliefs.