UNESCO listed Golestan Palace damaged in strikes on Tehran

"Golestan Palace was among the sites that sustained serious damage and destruction following the attacks carried out by the United States and the Israeli regime on Sunday night," the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in a post on platform X. 

UNESCO has expressed "concern" over the protection of heritage sites across the Middle East amid the escalating war. The UN's cultural agency said it had "communicated to all parties concerned the geographical coordinates of sites on the World Heritage List as well as those of national significance, to avoid any potential damage."

It pointed to the protections for cultural property enshrined in international law, notably the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, including its enhanced protection mechanism, as well as the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.