Washington (AFP)
US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat to strike Iranian cultural sites on Tuesday, a claim that had sparked uproar in the United States and around the world.
"They have the right to kill our nationals (...) and according to various laws, we are supposed to be careful with their cultural heritage ...", lamented Mr. Trump from the Oval Office when receiving Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis .
"But if it's the law, I like to obey the law," he added.
The controversy was born from a tweet in which Donald Trump threatened to target 52 sites if the Islamic Republic reacted militarily to avenge the death of the powerful general Qassem Soleimani, killed Friday in Iraq by an American strike.
These 52 sites - in symbolic homage to the number of Americans held hostage, from the end of 1979, at the United States Embassy in Tehran - are "of a very high standard and very important for Iran and for Iranian culture, "he said.
These words had put the tenant of the White House in overhang with American diplomacy Mike Pompeo who hammered for his part that the United States would respect "international law" in the event of reprisals against Tehran.
The Director General of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, for her part recalled that the United States had ratified two conventions, of 1954 and 1972, protecting cultural property in the event of conflict.
© 2020 AFP