A public joint statement from Iranians and concerned citizens of the world

On January 5th, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump made direct threats against Iranian cultural sites. The Middle East region is home to UNESCO World Heritage sites known as the cradle of civilization. While terrorist groups such as ISIS have already caused considerable damage to invaluable cultural sites in the region, we are extremely alarmed by President Trump’s explicit expression of the United State’s intentions to directly attack such sites in Iran. 

Directing intentional attacks against cultural sites may amount to a war crime under  the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2347 was unanimously passed in March 2017 in response to the Islamic State’s unlawful destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria.   

We call on the United Nations Security Council and the international community to condemn President Trump’s explicit threats of destroying Iran’s cultural sites, some of which are registered as UNESCO World Heritage sites.