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In two short sentences, Trump's White House just partially excused terrorism

Donald Trump has once again diminished his country with an appalling White House statement.

David Wroe

We're sorry. But you sort of deserved it.

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Iran shrine blast captured on video

Video shows the moment a bomb exploded at the Mausoleum of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on Wednesday.

That's the takeout from the White House's response to the Islamic State-claimed attacks on Iran's capital yesterday, in which at least 12 people were murdered at the Parliament building and the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum.

"We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times," the White House statement reads. "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."

Note the statement doesn't actually condemn the attack.

Contrast that with the State Department's unequivocal response: "The United States condemns the terrorist attacks in Tehran today. We express our condolences to the victims and their families, and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Iran. The depravity of terrorism has no place in a peaceful, civilised world."

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Or Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's: "The Australian government denounces in the strongest possible terms the terror attacks … We understand that ISIS has claimed responsibility for this appalling act … We extend our deep condolences and sympathy for the victims and their families, and the Iranian people."

Targeting civilians to punish or coerce the state to which they belong is the definition of terrorism. There should be no conditions attached to our condemnation of it.

Iran's government has much to answer for, including decades of using terrorist and insurgent groups to destabilise its regional rivals. It is rightly designated a state-sponsor of terrorism.

But a cleaner at Tehran's Parliament or a pilgrim visiting the mausoleum is no more to blame for the actions of their government than any citizen of a regime whose actions we abhor.

What distinguishes America from many of its antagonists? A lot, but first and foremost it does not deliberately target civilians. In fact there can be few starker moral distinctions than that between a force that uses human shields, like Islamic State is doing in Mosul, and one that goes to great lengths to avoid hitting the innocent, as the US-led coalition has been doing.

To say the 12 Iranians who died and the 46 wounded were somewhat more legitimate targets than any other civilians, American, Australian, British, Iraqi, muddies what should be an issue of crystal clarity.

Donald Trump has once again diminished his country.

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