“Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.” Thus says Leviticus 24:19-20 in the Old Testament. In essence, if we feel the need to retaliate against what someone has done to us, we are supposed to do so in proportion to the injustice we are reacting to.

I have always loved the pacifism of the New Testament. In Matthew 5:39, speaking to his followers during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this: “But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Biblical scholars have said that Jesus meant this command to apply to personal insults and minor offenses.

Obviously, when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fires missiles at a ship laden with oil and sets it ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz, it is not a minor offense for which the other cheek can be turned. The IRGC will of course say that its actions are a response to U.S. and Israeli attacks on their country. President Trump would counter that by saying there had been a ceasefire in place that required Iran to allow free and safe passage of ships through the waterway.

Amid that back and forth, a frustrated President Trump threatened to bomb a bridge or power plant inside Iran any time the IRGC attacks a ship in the strait. Legal experts have said that such strikes on civilian infrastructure would constitute war crimes. But the president and his associates argue that they are dual-use infrastructure that also serve the military, and are therefore legitimate targets.

We can debate whether destroying a bridge or a power plant in response to an attack on a commercial ship is in line with the proportionality principle. But I was surprised to hear Secretary of State Marco Rubio say that the president’s policy is “a head for an eye.” Indisputably, that would be disproportionate. Taking a tooth for a tooth or an eye for an eye would, at least partially, preserve the ability of the Iranians to see, hear, smell, and eat. A decapitation, as Mr. Rubio interprets the president’s intentions, would completely incapacitate the population.

The war in Iran has created a global mess and needs to be resolved quickly. I pray that Secretary Rubio, a devout Catholic, will serve as a moderating influence on his boss. With his bellicose and escalatory statement, he seems to be going in the opposite direction.