Wars have constantly changed the course of history, and the winners wield the sword and the pen. Throughout history, wars have changed their course, and the winner has rewritten it to provide future generations with a narrative full of perceived justification and just cause. When it comes to wars especially between countries whose people practice different religions, reparations are often done by erasing cultural monuments (religious or secular) and reconstructing them. Indeed, for example, the history of the Levant, Persia, and Arabia is replete with examples of tomb-like monuments. Be it the holy city of Jerusalem or Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, or even in faraway Rome, with new conquerors implicitly meant destroying old monuments or refurbishing them to take on a new incarnation.
An empty chair is placed beneath the portraits of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left), late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (center) and new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei (right). (AFP)
But, recent decades have shown that modern warfare has been somewhat cruel in silencing cultural monuments. Starting with the cannonade of nearly 2,000-year-old Buddha statues by the Taliban in Bamiyan province in 2001 and similar acts by Daesh (also known as Islamic State) in Palmyra, the destruction of culture or cultural killing has been a feature of wars, particularly in West Asia and North Africa. So, when US President Donald Trump says that by bombing Iran the US will send it into the Stone Age or threaten the existence of an entire civilization, there is an ominous and blatant disregard for the shared history and diverse cultures that have survived in Iran for longer than recorded history.
a purposeful goal
Targeting cultural monuments during armed conflict is not only condemned by international norms, but is also a war crime. Iran, Israel, and the United States are all signatories to international conventions that oblige them to protect cultural heritage, even in times of war. That legal framework now sits awkwardly with statements from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has publicly rejected “foolish rules of engagement”: conventions and protocols designed to protect civilians and their history from the violence of war.
Hegseth and Trump are repeating what has been recent strategy in US war planning. But, Trump’s strategy to destroy the pride of Iran’s civilization has been going on for some time. Six years ago, after Iran attacked US targets in Iraq after Qassem Soleimani (chief of Quds Force) was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad, US President Donald Trump (then in his first term) made it clear that targeting Iran’s rich cultural heritage was kosher. Six years later, the warnings have come true, as the war that has raged for the past month and a half has taken the lives of more than 2,000 Iranians and hundreds of others in Lebanon, as well as causing significant damage to more than 130 sites, including the 18th-century Golestan Palace in Tehran.
This comes despite the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) saying it has “notified all concerned parties about the World Heritage List as well as the geographical coordinates of sites of national importance to avoid any possible damage”.
Selective outrage over targeting cultural beacons
In addition to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the systematic destruction of the ancient city of Palmyra by ISIS in 2015 and 2017 drew a strong reaction from Western governments and media; Fast, intense and continuous. Now, the reactions are surprisingly varied. No footage is played on loop. No anchor called it barbaric. The same states that once led the voice of condemnation are now largely silent, or have instead resorted to the language of military necessity. What was once a crime against humanity, it seems, is now collateral damage, a rebranding that is often seen in history, but which future generations, having inherited an emaciated world, should not forgive easily.
According to Professor Marcus Hilgert, “Cultural objects always and always point to the past and highlight history. In fact, they are the material basis of all our narratives about the past. Thus, cultural objects help us build enduring identities. They construct historical narratives and are physical witnesses to the greatness or failure of the past. For some, they also embody values and beliefs… Thus, when you look at a community’s culture If you destroy or displace its history, you take away its common reference point, its orientation. But there is something else: by destroying or displacing a community’s cultural heritage, you also reduce its possibilities for post-conflict rehabilitation and reconciliation. The history of mankind is replete with examples of the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage as a strategy of war…”
So far, Tehran has suffered the most damage, with 63 affected sites recorded in the capital alone. This is followed by 23 in Isfahan, and 12 in Golestan province. Behind each number is a monument, an archive, a mosque, a palace, some standing for centuries, some for millennia, reduced to rubble or ruins in a matter of seconds. The full accounting, when it finally comes, will almost certainly be worse. So again, Trump’s civilizational threat came to the fore during these weeks: not through citizens, but through symbols of history and heritage.
Loss of history of Iranian civilization
The cities that bore the heaviest bombardment: Tehran, Isfahan and others, are not merely urban centers but living repositories of Persian imperial history. Tehran served as the seat of Qajar power for more than a century, and its streets, palaces and institutions still bear the imprint of that dynasty’s long reign. Isfahan, once the magnificent capital of the Safavid Empire, which ruled from 1501 to 1736, remains one of the most architecturally rich cities in the Islamic world, its skyline defined by domed mosques, royal squares and intricate tilework that has endured for half a millennium.
In Isfahan, 16th-century Safavid splendor can be seen most exquisitely in the Great Friday Mosque Jame’ Abbasi, its turquoise domes and tiles damaged in March 2026 when a missile struck nearby buildings. Another affected site in Isfahan is the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun Palace, which has deep ties to India. In the 16th century, the Safavid king Tahmasp hosted the beleaguered Humayun here; one of the four major frescoes in the palace commemorates this meeting between the future emperor of India and his patron and patron, the Shah of Iran.
Among the most devastating losses was the Golestan Palace, Tehran’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site and the former seat of Qajar royal power, whose roots stretch back to the sixteenth century. The UN agency confirmed that the palace suffered shock damage from the airstrike on the adjacent Arg Square, built by Shah Tamasp, in Tehran’s historic city centre. Videos circulating afterward showed masonry falling from its walls and shattered glass in the iconic Hall of Mirrors, though the main structure was described as standing. In the days that followed, large concrete blocks were quietly deployed around the complex, obscuring the full extent of the damage.
During the conflict, Iranian authorities attempted to enforce the protection of international law by placing Blue Shield markers, i.e., blue and white symbols recognized under cultural heritage conventions, as a signal for attacking forces to abandon a site. They were ignored.
Furthermore, the Khorramabad Valley in western Iran is one of the most archaeologically significant landscapes in the country. Consisting of five caves and a rock shelter, the site contains evidence of continuous human habitation dating back some 63,000 years, a distinction that earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025. Nearby is the Falak-ol-Aflaq Citadel or Shapur Khast Castle, a fortress whose origins date back to the beginning of the 3rd century and the height of Sasanian royal power. This was an ancient fort which had recently been attacked. Several structures within the palace complex were damaged, among them the Archaeological and Anthropology Museum located inside its walls. However, the main fort is said to be structurally intact. Five staff members and heritage conservation workers were injured in the strike.
(HistoryCity is a column by writer Vale Singh that tells the story of a city that is in the news by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. Views expressed are personal.)
