Senate Democrats condemn Trump's threats

Senate Democrats including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement condemning President Trump's warning that a "whole civilization will die" if Iran does not meet his deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz. 

Jack Reed, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chris Coons, a ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense and Brian Schatz, a ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, also joined the statement. 

"We speak today with one voice and one purpose," the senators wrote. 

"This is not strength," the statement said. "Intentionally destroying the power, water, or basic infrastructure upon which tens of millions of civilians depend to punish the very civilians who suffer at the hands of the Iranian regime would constitute a war crime, a betrayal of the values this nation was founded on, and a moral failure." 

The senators said that Mr. Trump's "reckless threat makes Americans less safe, further destabilizes our nation and economy, and puts at greater risk U.S. service members." 

The group said they believed diplomacy was "the only viable solution to this war" and that Mr. Trump "must not follow through on this threat."