Hegseth, Secretary of War, on Iran: "We will keep pressing. We will keep pushing, keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies." [1]
US Department of Defense Law of War Manual: [2]
5.4.7 Prohibition Against Declaring That No Quarter Be Given. It is forbidden to declare that no quarter will be given. This means that it is prohibited to order that legitimate offers of surrender will be refused or that detainees, such as unprivileged belligerents, will be summarily executed. Moreover, it is also prohibited to conduct hostilities on the basis that there shall be no survivors, or to threaten the adversary with the denial of quarter.
This rule is based on both humanitarian and military considerations.This rule also applies during non-international armed conflict.
Congressional testimony [3] : CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper was simply unable to affirm in particular that it is forbidden to declare that no quarter will be given. He just give generic "we will follow the law" statements.
Example:
Representative Jason Crow of Colorado: You're a combatant commander. You're one of our most senior military officers with tens of thousands of service members under your command. Does the law of war manual state that it is prohibited to utter to declare that no quarter be given?
Admiral Brad Cooper: It prohibits a large number of things. It will follow
Crow: I just read the provision to you. I just literally read the provision to you. Does it prohibit you or anyone else from declaring that no quarter be given? I just read it to you.
Cooper: We will follow everything that's in the law.
Crow: Answer the question, Admiral Cooper. You have tens of thousands of service members under your command. I literally just read a provision from the Law of War manual, our own manual. Will you not just say what I just read to you?
Cooper: I will say that we will follow the law of armed conflict to the tea.
Crow: This is, this is, this is just unbelievable to me. I find the same thing, sir. This is just unbelievable to me.
[1] Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine Hold a Press Briefing, March 13, 2026, https://www.war.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/4434484/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseth-and-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-air-force-gen-da/
[2] US Department of Defense Law of War Manual, June 2015, updated July 2023.
https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/2003271432/-1/-1/0/dod-law-of-war-manual-june-2015-updated-july%202023.pdf
[3] Transcript of YouTube, CBS News, May 19, 2026 : Tense exchange between Rep. Crow and CENTCOM commander over Iran, rules on quarter for enemies, https://youtu.be/2kIAUFKSc38
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AI found several examples of such from the 19th century, and from the Vietnam war, and explains:
"What you are observing in the exchange between Rep. Crow and Admiral Cooper is a classic institutional self-preservation mechanism.
When a civilian leader (like a Secretary of Defense) uses illegal wartime rhetoric ("no quarter"), it places the uniform military leadership in a dangerous trap. If the Admiral explicitly agrees with the lawmaker that the Secretary's words describe an illegal war crime, he is publicly rebuking his civilian boss—a violation of the American norm of civilian control of the military. If he agrees with the Secretary, he is endorsing a war crime."
