ASOR SPEAKS OUT IN DEFENSE OF IRAN’S CULTURAL HERITAGE
In light of President Trump’s recent threats to Iranian cultural sites, ASOR President Sharon Herbert has issued the following statement.  She has also signed on behalf of ASOR a deploring these threats.
In accord with ASOR’s mission to support efforts to protect, preserve, and present to the public the historic and cultural heritage of the Near East and the wider Mediterranean and to raise awareness of its degradation, ASOR strongly protests U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to intentionally target  Iranian cultural heritage sites.
, ratified by the USA in 2009, and the  (paragraph 5.18.5.1) both prohibit the intentional destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflict except in situations when targeting is imperative for a legitimate military goal.
ASOR calls upon President Trump and the U.S. Department of Defense to avoid harm to the cultural heritage of Iran.