UNESCO Sites Not Spared: Iranian Heritage Damaged by Airstrikes

Iran holds the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Middle East, with 27 locations.

While internationally recognized heritage sites are typically excluded from military targets even during wartime, such norms appear to have been ignored in the current Middle East conflict.

On June 30 (local time), Reuters reported on the findings of its visit to damaged historic sites in the central Iranian city of Isfahan and the capital, Tehran. The news agency gained rare permission from Iranian authorities to conduct the visit in late March of this year, when U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran were intensifying.

Reuters journalists confirmed that a total of 11 historic buildings, including sites designated as UNESCO World Heritage, had sustained damage.

Among them was the Naqsh-e Jahan Plaza, a landmark of Isfahan often called "half of the world," and the nearby Chehel Sotoun Palace.

The report stated that while these sites were not directly hit, they were shaken by the shockwaves of airstrikes because they were located less than 200 meters away from the original target, the Isfahan provincial government building.

Experts note that the shockwaves from such bombings can cause severe damage to structures even 1 kilometer away.

Reuters pointed out, "There is no precedent for such damage to UNESCO-listed cultural heritage during the ground and air campaigns conducted by the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan over the past 20 years."

UNESCO has not yet been able to dispatch an investigation team to Iran and is currently assessing the damage through satellite imagery.

UNESCO stated that it has verified damage to a total of seven sites so far, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, four nationally significant cultural properties, and one religious site in Iran.

The organization told Reuters that it had not received any prior consultation before or during the war, but had shared the coordinates of major heritage sites with "all parties to the conflict."

This implies that the U.S. and Israel were aware of the exact locations of these global cultural treasures, which should have been on a "no-strike list" near their targets.

The Israeli military dismissed concerns regarding the Isfahan strikes, stating, "We act in accordance with international law and target only military objectives." White House spokesperson Anna Kelly also responded, "Operations are designed in line with the core goal of ensuring that Iran never possesses nuclear weapons."

However, Reuters interviewed eight experts in Middle Eastern archaeology and heritage preservation, who noted that "the U.S. military's targeting methods and priorities have clearly shifted away from measures to protect internationally recognized historic sites."

Wes Bryant, a former U.S. Air Force targeting analyst, said, "Dropping bombs inside or near a heritage site required strong military necessity, such as protecting the lives of soldiers, and sometimes even high-level approval at the White House level."

The U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment on this matter.

According to the 1954 Hague Convention, intentionally targeting civilian cultural property during armed conflict is considered a war crime under international law, and potential damage to such property must be carefully assessed when attacking nearby areas.

Stephennie Mulder, a professor of Islamic art and architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, referred to the Iraq War two decades ago, saying, "It was destructive then, but compared to the current situation where no one cares and all regulations have been lifted, it feels like a golden age."

The U.S. perspective on Iranian cultural heritage in this war was starkly revealed in a threat made by U.S. President Donald Trump in April, who stated that if Iran did not agree to end the war, "the entirety of Iranian civilization will be destroyed."

A staff member in charge of archaeology who has worked at the Golestan Palace in Tehran for 30 years said, "When I entered the palace the morning after the airstrike, I was so shocked that I just stood frozen among the shards of glass."

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.