U.S. President Donald Trump issued a strong warning to Iran in a national address, stating that failure to agree to Washington’s proposed terms for ending the conflict could result in the country being pushed back to the “Stone Age.”
According to Al Jazeera, the phrase “sending a country to the Stone Age” is commonly interpreted as a reference to large-scale aerial bombardment. In military terms, this is often described as “carpet bombing,” a strategy aimed at systematically destroying a nation’s infrastructure.
Such attacks typically target a wide range of facilities, including hospitals, schools, universities, industrial zones, businesses, and civilian structures, leaving little intact. Analysts warn that if carried out, operations of this scale could violate international humanitarian law and, in extreme cases, may be considered acts of genocide.
The use of such rhetoric is not new in U.S. military history. The phrase is widely believed to have been popularized by U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who oversaw extensive bombing campaigns against Japanese cities during World War II.
During the early 1950s, in the course of the Korean War, U.S.-led forces carried out massive bombing operations over North Korea. Reports suggest that these strikes destroyed a significant portion of the country’s infrastructure, including most of its electricity generation capacity.
Later, during the Vietnam War, similar strategies were again advocated. In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon authorized a major bombing campaign over North Vietnam, widely known as the “Christmas Bombing.”
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States reportedly issued stern warnings to Pakistan. At the time, then-President Pervez Musharraf claimed that his country had been threatened with severe consequences, including being pushed back to the “Stone Age,” if it did not cooperate in the campaign against the Taliban.
Trump’s threat to ‘send Iran to the Stone Age’, what does it mean?
