Loss of civilization: US-Israel strikes on Iran's cultural heritage sites

Editor's note: The conflict in the Middle East is not only a geopolitical contest but also a crisis whose costs are increasingly shared across the globe. From energy and food to tourism and cultural exchange, individuals, industries and economies worldwide are being drawn into its ripple effects, often as involuntary stakeholders. CGTN presents a special series, examining the far-reaching impacts of the crisis from multiple perspectives, including energy, commodities, and global economic resilience. The series will also explore a central question facing the international community: who ultimately bears the cost of war in an interconnected world.

The ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict has inflicted significant damage on numerous cherished cultural heritage sites across Iran, making them unexpected yet very real victims of the war.

According to Iran's Cultural Heritage Ministry, more than 80 national and internationally recognized heritage sites have been damaged.

Some of these sites, such as the iconic Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, have suffered severe destruction. Iran's Minister of Cultural Heritage Reza Salehi Amiri expressed his deep sorrow over the attacks, describing them as both "extremely bitter" and "distressing."

Iran, a country with a rich history spanning thousands of years, is home to 29 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and numerous other significant cultural relics. Chehel Sotoun, located at Isfahan's Naqsh-e-Jahan Square (a UNESCO-listed complex), is known as "nesf-e-jahān" in old Persian, meaning "half the world."

Also targeted in the conflict is the Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tehran. This former royal complex, once the seat of the Qajar dynasty, is often compared to the grandeur of France's Versailles Palace.

In response to the escalating damage, UNESCO has communicated the coordinates of all World Heritage sites to the relevant parties involved, urging them to avoid any further destruction.

What the laws say

International law explicitly prohibits attacks on cultural sites and heritage. The 1954 Hague Convention, which was adopted in the aftermath of World War II to prevent the destruction of cultural property, obligates warring nations to refrain from targeting monuments, museums and archaeological sites unless there is a clear military necessity.

The Convention, which the US, Israel and Iran are all parties to, includes processes involving the appointment of a commissioner-general for cultural property, who may deal with matters arising from the application of the Convention in conjunction with the parties concerned, and who may also have a role in initiating or conducting an investigation into alleged violations, Bijan Rouhani, senior researcher in endangered archaeology in the Middle East & North Africa at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.

In addition, UN Security Council Resolution 2347, passed in 2017, condemns the destruction of cultural heritage, including religious sites. Notably, the US supported this resolution.

Patty Gerstenblith, an emerita professor of law at Chicago's DePaul University who serves as president of the US Committee of the Blue Shield International, which works to protect cultural heritage during times of war, emphasized the importance of established rules of engagement in wartime, which govern the use of force in compliance with international humanitarian law, during an interview with NPR.

Gerstenblith added that the rules of engagement dictate what can and cannot be done, and all of this is already embedded in US law. Ironically, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has dismissed them as "stupid rules of engagement."

Any absence of rules of engagement in this conflict with Iran could put cultural and civilian infrastructure at greater risk of US and Israeli bombardment, warned Gerstenblith.

Loss for civilization

The indiscriminate attacks on cultural sites in Iran have sparked widespread condemnation, with critics decrying the destruction of civilization and the erasure of historical memory.

"'World Heritage' means these belong to humanity. If a World Heritage site is attacked, it means that the world and humanity themselves have been attacked," said Hojjatollah Ayoubi, senior advisor to the head of the International Affairs Center of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

Prominent Iranian scholar Mojtaba Najafi shared a heartfelt message on X, saying, "Ancient monuments are as important as human lives, because they connect me to my past. Their destruction means my memory is being demolished."

Naghmeh Sohrabi, a professor of Middle East history and director for research at Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies, told The New York Times that these sites carry historical memory that transcend ideology and they are living breathing monuments to beauty and creation, not just for Iranians but for all people in the world.

Nasim Alikhani, the Iranian American owner and chef of the acclaimed Persian restaurant Sofreh in Brooklyn, told The New York Times that she was devastated when she heard about the strikes in Isfahan, her hometown.

"It (Isfahan's Naqshe Jahan Square) has survived countless invasions, yet it did not survive the brutality of this unjust war. These places do not belong only to Iranians – they belong to humanity, and their destruction must never be accepted," Alikhani said.

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(With input from agencies)