US and Israeli strikes on Iran have damaged at least four cultural and historical sites, including palaces and an ancient mosque, raising alarms about the impact of the widening war on protected landmarks that are important to Iranian identity and world history.
The speed and extent of the damage have so concerned Iran and Lebanon that they sent a request to the United Nations’ cultural agency, Unesco, to add more sites to its enhanced protection list.
Unesco confirmed that it has verified damage to the lavish Qajar-era
Golestan Palace in Tehran, as well as the 17th century Chehel Sotoun palace and the Masjed-e Jame, the country’s oldest Friday (congregational) mosque, both in Isfahan. There was also verified damage at buildings close to the Khorramabad Valley, which includes five prehistoric caves and one rock shelter providing evidence of human occupation dating to 63,000BC.
The impact on cultural sites has been felt across the Middle East and beyond, with Unesco tracking damage to the White City in Israel, Tyre in Lebanon and elsewhere.
Collateral damage in such places has been part of the fabric of war for decades, including in conflicts between Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Hamas, in which dozens of sites were damaged or destroyed.
“What is happening is clear to all: in these increasingly modern conflicts, it’s civilians who pay the price, it’s civilian infrastructure that pays the price, and we’ve all seen the destruction of priceless historical heritage,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says.