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It is approaching a month since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, arguing they were acting to remove the country’s nuclear threat, destroy its ballistic missile capability and free the Iranian people of a tyrannical theocratic regime. Yet it is Iranian civilians who are increasingly bearing the brunt of Israel and US’s campaign. Here’s what we know about the impact war is having on the Iranian public.
The start of the war
28 February-7 March
At least 175 people were killed, the majority of them children, by a Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian school on the first day of Israeli-US bombing. US investigators reportedly believe American forces are responsible.
On the same day, 20 people, including teenage girls playing volleyball, were killed after an attack that hit a sports hall in Lamerd, on Iran’s south coast, Iranian authorities said. Gandhi hospital, in Tehran, suffered extensive damage in strikes the day after, in what the World Health Organization chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described as an “extremely worrying” incident. Historic sites including the Unesco world heritage site Golestan Palace and the ancient Grand Bazaar in Tehran, along with shops and cafes across the country, were also significantly damaged in the first week of bombing ordered by the US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Attacks on civilian sites are illegal under international law. Where they accept responsibility, Israel and the US argue that the devastation is incidental to strikes on nearby military or strategic targets. The UN’s refugee agency said 100,000 people fled the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the first 48 hours of attacks.
Environmental impact
8-15 March
Residents of Tehran reported black clouds and “black rain” on 8 March, describing downpours contaminated with toxic pollutants, a day after Israel said it had bombed fuel depots near the capital. The WHO warned that the environmental impacts of attacks on oil infrastructure could have severe health effects on children, older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions. Meanwhile, Iran’s ministry of culture and heritage reported that Israeli airstrikes had damaged culturally significant buildings in the city of Isfahan, which is known for its historic Islamic architecture, including Ali Qapu Palace, Chehel Sotoun and Jameh Mosque.
The buildings, which the Iranian authorities said had been flying blue flags signalling their protected status, were hit hours after the third-century Shapur Khast castle, in western Iran, suffered structural damage. More than 40,000 civilian buildings, including 10,000 homes in Iran, were damaged in airstrikes in the first fortnight of the war, the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian NGO, said on 14 March, adding that they had received 70,000 calls from people seeking “mental health support, guidance … and counselling”.
Hardship, uncertainty and fear
16-21 March
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned on 18 March that densely populated urban areas, along with major energy facilities, were coming under attack across the Middle East, meaning many people were observing Eid in “hardship, uncertainty, and fear”. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said civilians faced disruptions in electricity supply, and shortages of medicine, baby formula and fuel, while housing complexes, medical facilities, shops, courthouses, Unesco world heritage sites, energy installations and about 500 schools had been hit by US-Israeli missiles in Iran.
The UN understands that the Iranian regime has continued its repression against citizens, with political prisoners facing harsher conditions, critics being arrested, and internet access restricted. Inflation in Iran is said to be at its highest levels since the second world war, exacerbating the cost of living crisis that triggered the protests that preceded the war, putting basic foods out of reach for many. The Iranian government raised the minimum wage by 60% on 20 March in response. On Saturday 21 March, Iran’s state broadcaster said more than 1,500 people had been killed in Iran since the war began.
Trump warning
22 March
Donald Trump is threatening the destruction of Iran’s energy infrastructure if Iran refuses to reopen the strait of Hormuz. Iran warned it was restricting passage through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil usually passes, within hours of the US-Israeli offensive. Since then, only about five ships a day have been passing through with the permission of the Iranian authorities, who are reeling from the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials. Oil prices have rocketed as a result. This weekend Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants – “starting with the biggest one first” – if Tehran did not fully reopen the chokepoint within 48 hours, or 23:44 GMT on Monday, according to the time of his post. On Sunday, Iran said it would completely shut the strait if Trump proceeded with his threats, adding, in a statement: “We did not start the war and we will not start it now, but if the enemy harms our power plants, we will do everything to defend the country and the interests of our people.” On Sunday, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said more than 80,000 civilian sites had been hit in the country since the war began, including 260 medical facilities.
