Iran says strikes damaged 120 museums & historic buildings across country

• Ahmad Alavi of the Tehran City Council reported that US and ‘Israeli’ airstrikes have damaged at least 120 museums and historical landmarks, including the Saadabad Palace complex and the Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• International monitors have confirmed structural damage to four of Iran’s 29 World Heritage sites, including the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan and Naqsh-e Jahan Square. 

Tehran City Council’s head of the Cultural Heritage Committee, Ahmad Alavi, said Friday that US and ‘Israeli’ airstrikes on Iran have damaged at least 120 museums, cultural sites, and historical landmarks across the country since the start of the war.

Alavi said, “At least 120 museums, historic buildings, and cultural sites across various provinces were directly targeted, resulting in severe structural damage.”

He noted, according to state television, that the affected sites include Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with others such as the Marble Palace, the Teymourtash Museum, also known as the War Museum, and the Saadabad Palace, all located in Tehran.

Saadabad is a vast historical complex in northern Tehran that includes several palaces and heritage buildings set within a large forested area dating back to the early 20th century.

It also houses multiple museums dedicated to Iran’s cultural history, including artifacts from the era of the deposed Shah, such as cars, formal attire, and state gifts from world leaders.

In addition to museums, the complex contains the residences of the Iranian president and the governor of Tehran, while facilities belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the judiciary are located nearby, according to AFP.

The United States and ‘Israel’ launched an attack on Iran on February 28, which on its first day resulted in the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and sparked a war whose effects have spread across the entire region.

In mid-March, UNESCO recorded damage to four out of Iran’s 29 World Heritage-listed sites.

These include Golestan Palace, sometimes compared to the Palace of Versailles and one of the oldest sites in the Iranian capital; the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan in central Iran; Chehel Sotoun Palace, also in Isfahan; and the archaeological sites in the Khorramabad Valley in the east.

Several historic houses in the coastal city of Bushehr overlooking the Gulf were also damaged. In Isfahan, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, a 17th-century architectural masterpiece surrounded by mosques, a palace, and a bazaar, also sustained damage.