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Intentionally Destroying a People’s Cultural Heritage Is a War Crime Under International Law

And Yes, the U.S. and Israel Have Been Doing That in Their Savage Attack on Iran

Iran’s rich cultural history began more than 10,000 years ago, with major urban civilizations arising around 4300 BC. Now the U.S. and Israel are targeting this precious and irreplaceable cultural, artistic, architectural, and historic heritage. 

During the war’s first week, Israeli bombs seriously damaged the famed hall of mirrors in the Golestan Palace, which dates to the 15th or 16th century.

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UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) warned the U.S. and Israel that “cultural property is protected under international law,”—i.e., that its destruction is a war crime. It tried to prevent further damage by sharing the geographical coordinates of protected sites with Israel and the U.S. Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage also installed blue flags to alert Israeli and U.S. warplanes that these were protected sites.

To no avail. 

This past week Israeli airstrikes damaged other cultural jewels in the city of Isfahan, including the “Ali Qapu Palace and the Chehel Sotoun palace and garden, dating to the 17th-century Safavid dynasty.” 

“The blast waves on Monday (March 9) also sent the turquoise tiles of the iconic Jameh Mosque crashing to the ground… The mosque, with its brightly colored minarets and domes covered in Persian calligraphy, is renowned as a gem of Persian and Islamic architecture.”

On March 8, in Khorramabad, in Lorestan Province, “an ancient hilltop castle and military barracks dating to Persia’s Sasanian era, from the 220s to 650s A.D., was seriously damaged in an airstrike.”

The sight of these precious historical sites being devastated by Israeli missiles has enraged many Iranians. “Some are asking how a war waged by Israel and the United States supposedly against the Islamic republic’s government and military has ended up damaging their cultural identity and sites.”

“‘These sites carry historical memory that transcend ideology,’ said Naghmeh Sohrabi, a professor of Middle East history and director for research at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies. ‘They are living breathing monuments to beauty and creation, not just for Iranians but for all of us in the world.’”

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