TEHRAN – Over 140 Iranian historical monuments and sites were attacked during the war with the United States and Israel, Iran’s minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts has said, terming the attack as "a great crime."
"We are a nation with an ancient history and civilization, and the enemies did not understand that they cannot confront nations that have an ancient history and civilization," Seyed Reza Salehi-Amiri told Xinhua in an interview on Saturday, marking the International Day for Monuments and Sites.
On Feb 28, Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei along with senior military commanders and civilians and damaging civilian infrastructure, residential units and historical monuments and sites.
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The minister said the historical monuments and sites damaged during the US-Israeli attacks are located in 20 provinces. Among the damaged monuments were the Golestan Palace and Sa'dabad Palace in the capital Tehran, and the Chehel Sotoun Palace in the central Isfahan province, which are "masterpieces of the Iranian architecture" representing different eras, he added.
Salehi-Amiri said his ministry immediately took measures to restore them. "We took several quick steps to restore each of the buildings damaged during the war, with the first one being the emergency restoration or conservation," he said, adding that the extent of the damage was immediately estimated by experts and restoration teams began their work right away.
Iran has documented the total damage and destruction and reported them to international organizations, including the United Nations, UNESCO and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, he said.
He estimated the total losses from the attacks on 140 historical monuments and sites at around 7.5 trillion tomans ($95 million). The ministry has launched a campaign calling on Iranians in and outside the country to contribute to the restoration of the damaged monuments, he added.
Iran has 43,000 registered monuments and 29 World Heritage sites, which represent the Iranian people's character, said Salehi-Amiri.
