GENEVA (19 June 2026) – UN experts* today welcomed the
signing of a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding between
the United States and Iran but warned that any agreement
that fails to address the human rights situation in Iran
will be fundamentally incomplete.
“The Memorandum
focuses almost entirely on military withdrawal, the
reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear commitments,
sanctions relief and a $300 billion reconstruction fund .
The Iranian people — who have suffered enormously from
both external military aggression and internal repression
– are barely visible in this framework,” the experts
said.
The war has exacted a devastating toll in Iran
and in the wider region. Thousands of civilians have been
killed in airstrikes striking schools, hospitals, religious
and cultural sites and residential areas, with millions
internally displaced. The strikes have further worsened an
already fragile humanitarian situation, including for the
millions of Afghan refugees living in Iran. The conflict has
also caused environmental damage to infrastructure, air,
water sources, agricultural land as well as increased
climate impacts.
“Since the war began in late
February, Iranian authorities have moved aggressively
against dissent. Thousands have been detained, with many
reportedly tortured, forcibly disappeared, subjected to mock
executions or forced to confess on camera. At least 156
individuals have been executed since the war began,” they
said.
At least 42 individuals were executed on
espionage and national security-related charges – many
following proceedings in which confessions were reportedly
obtained under torture and access to legal counsel denied.
Authorities have also seized the assets of at least 1,500
citizens, including hundreds of Iranians living abroad, as a
tool of punishment and transnational repression. Bahá’ís,
Kurds and Baluch Iranians have been particularly at risk. A
recent amnesty announced by the Supreme Leader explicitly
excluded those convicted of security-related offences,
meaning many protest detainees remain
imprisoned.
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“The human cost has been compounded by
severe economic harm in Iran, as well as in the region and
globally,” the experts said.
Three months of
near-total internet shutdown – one of the longest ever
recorded – severed businesses, livelihoods and families
from the outside world. While connectivity has now largely
returned, Iranians continue to face heavy filtering,
hampering recovery in a country already pushed into deep
economic precarity before the war began. Unemployment has
increased drastically, monthly food inflation has reached
115%, and widespread delays in wage payments have left daily
workers particularly exposed.
The experts hope that
the $300 billion reconstruction fund envisaged under the
Memorandum, once its implementation mechanism is finalised,
will genuinely benefit the Iranian people enduring this
economic hardship.
“A deal that serves geopolitical
interests while leaving the Iranian people behind is not a
peace agreement worthy of the name,” the experts warned.
“The reopening the Strait of Hormuz merely restores what
existed before this war began. The bar must be far higher
than a return to the status quo. The voices of Iranians –
millions of whom took to the streets demanding fundamental
change – must be heard in any negotiation that claims to
secure their future.”
The experts called on all
States, including mediating States, to use their influence
to ensure that any final deal – negotiated over the next
60 days – incorporates accountability, redress and
reparations for victims, as well as concrete, verifiable
commitments on a moratorium on executions, the release of
arbitrarily detained persons, the disclosure of the fate and
whereabouts of forcibly disappeared persons, restoration of
open internet access, and the protection of civic
space.
The experts cautioned that the end of
hostilities must not be mistaken for the restoration of
rights. “For the Iranian people, that work is yet to
begin.”
*The
experts:
- Mai
Sato, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Islamic Republic of Iran - Ben
Saul, Special
Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms while countering
terrorism - Astrid Puentes
Riaño, Special
Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and
sustainable
environment; - Gabriella
Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska
(Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez and
Mohamed Al Obaidi, Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances - Richard Bennett,
Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Afghanistan - Margaret
Satterthwaite, Special
Rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers - Andrea Bolaños Vargas,
Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders - Alice Jill Edwards,
Special
Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment - Cecilia M
Bailliet, Independent
Expert on human rights and international
solidarity - Nazila
Ghanea, Special
Rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief - Nicolas Levrat,
Special
Rapporteur on minority issues - Ana
Brian Nougrères, Special
Rapporteur on the right to
privacy - Paula Gaviria Betancur,
Special
Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced
persons - Gina Romero,
Special
Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and
of
Association
