GENEVA (23 July 2026) – UN experts*
today condemned the resumption of hostilities between the
United States and Iran and their spread across the wider
region, only weeks after the signing of a 14-point
Memorandum of Understanding intended to end the
war.
“Abandoning these commitments damages prospects
for peace, harms the human rights of victims of war, and
undermines the mutual trust in agreements that is necessary
to permanently end conflict,” the experts
said.
Overnight on 12-13 July, military strikes and
counter-strikes between the United States and Iran marked a
significant escalation of the conflict, with reported
impacts across several countries in the region, heightening
concerns about further regional escalation. Commercial
vessels have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz,
endangering civilian seafarers, and freedom of navigation
and commercial transit through the strait has
halted.
“Civilians across the region must not pay
the price of this conflict. All parties must comply with
international human rights law and international
humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction,
proportionality, and precaution intended to protect
civilians and civilian objects, including commercial vessels
and their crews,” the experts said.
Emerging reports
indicate strikes on civilian infrastructure, including ports
in southern Iran, as well as power outages in Chabahar,
projectiles landing near the Bushehr nuclear power plant,
and damage to railway lines, including the Agh Tekkeh Khan
bridge. A desalination plant was also struck, reportedly
leaving 10,000 people without water. Local authorities and
Iranian media have also reported strikes on Semnan Airport,
a wheat silo, a bottled water factory, and areas adjacent to
a children’s cancer hospital in Ahvaz, forcing the
evacuation of patients. According to Iran’s Ministry of
Health, 50 people have been killed and more than 500
injured.
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“Strikes on ports, power supplies and
transport links sever communities from food, medicine and
livelihoods in a country in deep economic precarity and have
serious climate change implications. Projectiles landing
near a nuclear power plant raise safety concerns. All these
significant human rights concerns go well beyond Iran’s
borders,” the experts said.
“The people of Iran
are once again caught between renewed US strikes and their
government’s internal repression,” they said. Since the
beginning of the war in late February, external aggression
has killed thousands and displaced millions. Simultaneously,
Iranian authorities have continued to carry out executions,
amid reported mass detentions, torture and enforced
disappearances.
“Whether in war or under internal
repression, the suffering of those in vulnerable situations
— women, children, persons with disabilities, minorities,
refugees and people living in poverty — too often remains
invisible,” the experts said.
“Those losing their
lives include fishermen, night-shift workers caught in the
strikes, and residents of informal settlements — people
already living on the margins and long deprived of basic
services,” they said. Women and girls face heightened
protection risks and often shoulder the social and economic
consequences of violence whilst having the least access to
protection and support.
“Minority communities,
including the Baluch, whose areas were struck in the ongoing
US attacks, are among the most marginalised in Iran, and
their deaths must not go unseen or unacknowledged,” the
experts said.
“The protection of civilian lives and
civilian infrastructure in Iran, the region and beyond must
be an immediate priority. The disruption of vital maritime
trade, which has harmed livelihoods worldwide, must
end.”
The experts urged all parties to de-escalate
and return to negotiations.
*The
experts:
- Mai Sato, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Islamic Republic of Iran - Cecilia M.
Bailliet, the
Independent Expert on human rights and international
solidarity - Nicolas Levrat, the
Special Rapporteur on minority
issues - Astrid Puentes Riaño, the
Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy
and sustainable environment - Paula Gaviria
Betancur, the
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally
displaced persons - Marcos A. Orellana,
the
Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of
the environmentally sound management and disposal of
hazardous substances and wastes - Ben Saul,
the
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human
rights and fundamental freedoms while countering
terrorism - Richard Bennett, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Afghanistan - Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana
Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Haina Lu, and
Laura Nyirinkindi, the
Working Group on discrimination against women and
girls - Elisa Morgera, Special
Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights
in the context of climate
change
