PARIS, April 3 — The World Health Organisation warned Friday about “multiple attacks on health” in Iran in recent days, while paying tribute to the Pasteur Institute in the capital which was destroyed in an airstrike.
“Multiple attacks on health have been reported in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in recent days amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
He said the Pasteur Institute “sustained significant damage and was rendered unable to continue delivering health services” — one of 20 facilities the WHO has confirmed as being targeted.
The centre, which has no formal links with the Pasteur Institute in Paris, is one of the oldest research and public health facilities in Iran, having been founded in 1920.
Tedros said that the centre “plays an important role in protecting and promoting population health, including in emergencies”.
The Pasteur Institute in Paris sent its well-wishes “to the researchers, students, and civilian staff who may have been affected by the strikes”, in a statement on its website.
Another US-Israeli attack on Tuesday hit one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Iran, Tofigh Daru, which produces anaesthetic and cancer drugs, according to the Iranian government.
Tedros said the Delaram Sina Psychiatric Hospital had also sustained significant damage last Sunday.
The high-end private Gandhi Hospital in northwest Tehran had its windows blown out in the first days of the war, while the WHO’s office in Tehran was also damaged at the start of the week.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”, despite international law prohibiting the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
Healthcare facilities are protected locations under the Geneva Conventions agreed as the rules of war by world powers after World War II.
According to the latest figures from the Iranian Red Crescent, 307 health, medical and emergency care facilities have been damaged in the war.
Israel repeatedly attacked hospitals in Gaza during its two-year bombardment of the territory from October 2023, claiming they were being used by operatives from the Hamas militant group.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, claiming the country was rushing towards developing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied. — AFP
WHO flags multiple attacks on health facilities in Iran amid escalating conflict
