Tehran has sounded an alarm about in depth harm to its cultural and historic websites because of the United States-Israel warfare on Iran.
The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts mentioned on Saturday that not less than 56 museums, historic monuments and cultural websites in Iran have been broken over the course of the warfare, which started on February 28, state-run information media reported.
The heritage websites broken embody the Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran.
Which of Iran’s heritage websites have been broken?
The Islamic Republic Information Company (IRNA) quoted the Cultural Heritage Ministry as saying essentially the most harm has been sustained in Tehran, the place 19 areas have been affected. These included Golestan Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the previous Senate constructing.
The ministry’s assertion added that historic websites have been impacted in Isfahan, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Bushehr and Ilam provinces. They included elements of Naqsh-e Jahan Sq. in Isfahan, which like Golestan Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Website.
The ministry added that museums and historic complexes within the cities of Sanandaj, Khorramabad and Siraf have been additionally impacted.
Golestan Palace dates to the Qajar period. This 1789-1925 period is marked by the rule of a Turkic dynasty that unified Iran after many years of civil unrest. The Qajar household made Tehran the capital of Iran.
Golestan is a walled palace constructed by combining Persian craft and structure with European motifs and types. It options gardens, swimming pools and ornaments. In Persian, “golestan” means “flower backyard”.
A video taken by The Related Press information company on March 3 confirmed shattered glass from the mirrored ceilings of the palace protecting its flooring, damaged archways, blown-out home windows and broken mouldings scattered under its glass-mosaic partitions.
Tehran’s Grand Bazaar is a historic market. Elements of it date again to the Qajar dynasty.
Naqsh-e Jahan Sq. homes key landmarks, equivalent to mosques and palaces. It was constructed between 1598 and 1629.
The Falak-ol-Aflak Citadel in Khorramabad in Lorestan province was additionally broken, based on the top of Lorestan’s heritage division, Ata Hassanpour, who added that the primary construction of the fortress remained intact.
What does worldwide regulation say about concentrating on heritage websites?
The Cultural Heritage Ministry’s assertion cited worldwide regulation, together with the 1954 Hague Conference and United Nations Safety Council Decision 2347, which name assaults on heritage websites violations of worldwide regulation.
The Hague Conference, which the US, Israel and Iran are all events to, goals to guard cultural property, equivalent to artwork, structure and historic websites.
Safety Council Decision 2347, which handed in 2017, condemns the illegal destruction of cultural heritage, together with non secular websites. The US voted in favour of this decision.
Israel and the US have insisted they’re exactly concentrating on navy targets in Iran.
Nevertheless, they’ve been accused of concentrating on civilian infrastructure in Iran together with heritage websites.
World rights group Amnesty Worldwide mentioned on Monday {that a} US-manufactured Tomahawk missile was seemingly utilized in an assault on an Iranian major faculty that killed not less than 170 folks, most of them youngsters, on February 28. In all, greater than 1,400 folks have been killed within the US-Israel assaults on Iran up to now.
What has UNESCO mentioned?
UNESCO, or the United Nations Instructional, Scientific and Cultural Group, has confirmed that it has verified harm to historic websites in Iran.
They embody Golestan Palace and two websites in Isfahan, the seventeenth century Chehel Sotoun Palace and the Masjed-e Jame, Iran’s oldest Friday mosque.
The UN company has moreover verified harm to buildings close to the Khorramabad Valley, an space that accommodates 5 prehistoric caves and a rock shelter with proof of human occupation relationship again to 63,000 BC.
UNESCO mentioned that earlier than the warfare, it had offered all events with the geographical coordinates of heritage websites so they may “take all possible precautions to keep away from harm”, AP reported.
Practically 30 websites are designated as below particular safety as a part of UNESCO’s World Heritage checklist.
Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi has criticised UNESCO’s response.
In an X submit on Thursday, Araghchi wrote: “It’s pure {that a} regime that received’t final a century hates nations with historical pasts. However the place’s UNESCO? Its silence is unacceptable.”
How have previous Center East wars ravaged cultural heritage?
Previous conflicts within the Center East have additionally destroyed cultural heritage websites.
The 2003 US‑led invasion of Iraq set the stage for the looting of the Iraq Nationwide Museum in Baghdad, the place hundreds of artefacts have been stolen or destroyed.
In 2015, ISIL (ISIS) fighters launched a video exhibiting the destruction of the Temple of Baalshamin, an historical place of worship in Palmyra, Syria. It was the most effective preserved ruins within the metropolis.
In addition they bulldozed elements of the Mosul Museum in Iraq in the identical 12 months. They launched a video, exhibiting the destruction of statues and historical artefacts, some relationship again to the seventh century BC.
Over the course of Israel’s genocidal warfare in Gaza, which started in October 2023, almost 200 websites of historic significance have been destroyed or broken as of February this 12 months, based on UNESCO.
In December 2024, Israel struck Gaza’s Nice Omari Mosque, the town’s largest and oldest mosque, which was established within the seventh century.
