The United Nations' cultural agency on Wednesday urged all parties to protect the region's outstanding cultural sites, saying four of Iran's 29 world heritage sites had been damaged since the start of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran. ADVERTISEMENT"UNESCO is deeply concerned by the first impact that the hostilities are already having on many world heritage sites," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the World Heritage Centre, told Reuters, adding he was also concerned for sites in Israel, Lebanon and across the Middle East. Tehran's Golestan palace, damaged in U.S.–Israeli strikes, is testimony to the grandeur of Iran's civilization in the 19th century, he said. Buildings close to the buffer zone of the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley have also been damaged, UNESCO said. UNESCO has shared coordinates of key cultural sites to all parties, Eloundou Assomo said, and was monitoring damage.

Source: The Telegraph March 11, 2026 14:11 UTC