‘No Quarter’ Declaration by Pete Hegseth ‘Constitutes a War Crime’: Experts

Photo: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth conducts a press briefing on Operation Epic Fury at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., March 10, 2026. Photo credit: DoW photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann via Flickr. Public Domain. Article by Jake Johnson. Common Dreams – March 16, 2026.

Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement last week that “no quarter” will be given to “our enemies” in Iran—a declaration, in military parlance, that surrendering combatants will be executed rather than taken prisoner—constituted a clear violation of international law and a war crime. The International Committee of the Red Cross explains that “the prohibition on declaring that no quarter will be given is a longstanding rule of customary international law already recognized in the Lieber Code, the Brussels Declaration, and the Oxford Manual and codified in the Hague Regulations.” The Hague Convention of 1907, to which the US is a party, says it is “especially forbidden” to “declare that no quarter will be given.” […]

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