George Clooney calls Donald Trump's threat to Iran a 'war crime'

George Clooney has accused Donald Trump of committing a war crime with his recent threat towards Iran.

The rivalry between George Clooney and Donald Trump was reignited when Clooney criticised Trump for his threats to Iran. Speaking to 3,000 high school students in Cuneo, Italy, on Wednesday, Clooney told students that Trump committed a war crime by the terms in which he threatened Iran, unless a dispute over the opening of the Strait of Hormuz was resolved.

On Easter Sunday, April 5, on Truth Social, Trump made a very specific threat to Iran stating that "A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again," concerning the ongoing dispute over the Strait of Hormuz

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran," Trump wrote. "There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F***in' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

The U.S. and Iran subsequently agreed to a two-week ceasefire and the temporary –– as yet only partial – reopening of the strait on Tuesday, April 7.

“Some say Donald Trump is fine,” Clooney told the students. “But if anyone says he wants to end a civilisation, that’s a war crime. You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung responded to Clooney's criticism, telling The Independent: “The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability.”

In a statement to Deadline on Wednesday, Clooney fired back: “Families are losing their loved ones. Children have been incinerated. The world’s economy is on a knife-edge. This is a time for vigorous debate at the highest levels. Not for infantile name-calling. I’ll start. A war crime is alleged when there is intent to physically destroy a nation, as defined by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. What is the administration’s defence? Besides calling me a failed actor, which I happily agree with, having starred in Batman and Robin?”

Over the years, Trump has frequently criticised Clooney, calling him a “second-rate movie star”, a “third-rate actor”, a “fake movie actor” who “never came close to making a great movie”, and a “backstabber”.

These insults came after Clooney, a longtime Democrat, called for Joe Biden to drop out of the election in order to give the Democratic party a chance of defeating Trump, offering the view that Joe could not "fight against time".

In January, Trump also criticised the decision to grant the actor and his family French citizenship, calling the Clooneys “two of the worst political prognosticators of all time.”