TEHRAN – A group of 218 international academics and researchers has warned of what it described as the deliberate destruction of Iran’s cultural heritage and scientific centers following recent US-Israeli attacks, calling the actions illegal and a threat to human history.

In a statement published in scientific journals, the signatories said recent military actions against Iran had caused widespread damage to research institutions and heritage sites, raising concerns about their impact on global scientific work and shared cultural memory.

The bombing of Iran amounts to erasing part of humanity’s memory and poses a serious threat to global scientific research, the statement said.

The researchers said that, beyond causing loss of life, the targeting of cultural heritage risked destroying what they described as humanity’s shared memory.

Referring to a fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States on April 8, the statement said recent attacks appeared aimed at “erasing traces of the past” and warned of risks to the continuity of the region’s cultural history.

According to the signatories, a large-scale bombing campaign by the United States and Israel, violated international law. They expressed solidarity with the people of Iran and said the damage had significant human and cultural consequences.

Several international organizations, including UNESCO and heritage bodies such as Europa Nostra, ICOM, ICOMOS and the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, have issued separate statements condemning the attacks, the letter said.

The statement added that, in addition to major landmarks such as Golestan Palace, Chehel Sotoun Palace and Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, more than 120 other heritage sites in Iran had been damaged.

Some of the attacks were described by the authors as intentional and aimed at destroying institutions responsible for heritage protection and training future specialists.

The statement also referred to strikes on March 8 targeting offices of Iran’s cultural heritage organization in Khorramabad, reporting destruction of the building, injuries to staff and damage to the Falak-ol-Aflak fortress and a nearby museum. It said the status of scientific documents and archaeological archives in the area remained unclear.

The researchers noted that Iran has more than 29 UNESCO World Heritage sites and over 40,000 nationally registered heritage properties, describing them as irreplaceable records of the country’s past for present and future generations.

They said Iran’s cultural heritage forms part of global history and that its destruction would constitute a loss for humanity as a whole.

In the final section of the statement, the signatories, most of whom affiliated with French universities, highlighted more than 150 years of scientific cooperation between Iran and France and called for efforts to preserve academic ties.

They proposed emergency funding for research and digitization of historical archives, expansion of international exchange programs and visa facilitation for Iranian researchers, and continued training of young specialists through doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships.

The statement concluded that preserving scientific dialogue and understanding the past are essential beyond national borders, warning that damage to cultural heritage risks undermining historical continuity in West Asia.

AM