Senior US officials say there is widespread opposition within the Trump administration to targeting cultural sites in Iran

By Jim Sciutto, Chief National Security Correspondent

Updated 3:42 PM ET, Sun January 5, 2020

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Washington (CNN)Two senior US officials on Sunday described widespread opposition within the administration to targeting cultural sites in Iran should the United States launch retaliatory strikes against Tehran, despite President Donald Trump saying a day before that such sites are among dozens the US has identified as potential targets.

“Nothing rallies people like the deliberate destruction of beloved cultural sites. Whether ISIS’s destruction of religious monuments or the burning of the Leuven Library in WWI, history shows targeting locations giving civilization meaning is not only immoral but self-defeating,” one of the officials told CNN.

“The Persian people hold a deeply influential and beautiful history of poetry, logic, art and science. Iran’s leaders do not live up to that history. But America would be better served by leaders who embrace Persian culture, not threaten to destroy it,” they added.

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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/05/politics/iranian-cultural-sites-us-strikes-donald-trump/index.html