We, the undersigned, deplore the threat by the US president, made via Twitter on 4 January (and reiterated to reporters on 5 January), that his forces have “targeted 52 Iranian sites” some of which are “important to Iran & the Iranian culture”. Whatever the policy implications of these words, we respond with horror to direct threats against the people of Iran and against their tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
As some have already noted, the president’s inflammatory statement is contrary to the stated aims of the 1954 Hague convention and the protocols of the Geneva conventions of 1949 and 1977. Furthermore, the international criminal court considers the destruction of cultural heritage to be a war crime.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and state our support, at this time of great anxiety, for our friends and colleagues in Iran’s museums, universities and heritage organisations. Their mission is of fundamental national and international importance – they work to create, safeguard and interpret an invaluable material legacy for present and future generations.
As academic researchers of Iranian history, archaeology, art and culture, based in national museums and universities across the world, we call on our political representatives to condemn explicitly any statement or action that threatens internationally recognised war crimes against the Iranian people, as well as their cultural heritage.
Lindsay Allen Lecturer in ancient history, King’s College London
Moya Carey Museum curator, Dublin
Fuchsia Hart DPhil candidate, Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford
Ladan Akbarnia Curator of south Asian and Islamic art, San Diego Museum of Art, California
Leila Amineddoleh Founder, Amineddoleh and Associates LLC, New York
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
Sussan Babaie Reader in the arts of Islam and Iran, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Archil Balakhvantsev Leading research fellow at the Center for the Study of Central Asia, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Arthur Bijl Assistant curator of Ottoman, Middle Eastern and Asian Arms and Armour, Wallace Collection, London
Rémy Boucharlat Université Lyon2, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, France
David Blow Historian of Iran, London
Sam Bowker Senior lecturer in art history and visual culture, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Pierre Briant Emeritus Professor, Collège de France, Paris
Francois Bridey Curator of ancient Iran collections, Ancient Near East Department, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Pierfrancesco Callieri Professor of archaeology of pre-Islamic Iran, Università di Bologna, Italy
Matthew P Canepa Professor, and Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali presidential chair in art history and archaeology of ancient Iran, University of California, Irvine, US
Annabelle Collinet Curator, Medieval Iranian World Collection, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Paul Collins Jaleh Hearn Curator of Ancient Near East, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Luca Colliva Archaeologist, Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission in Fars, Iran, and Università di Bologna
John Curtis former Keeper of Middle East, British Museum, London
Ashk Dahlén Associate professor, Uppsala University, Sweden
Touraj Daryaee Maseeh Chair in Persian studies and culture, and the director of the Dr Samuel M Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of California, Irvine
Sophy Downes Lecturer in art history, John Cabot University, Rome
May Farhat Architectural historian, Beirut
Shervin Farridnejad Lecturer in ancient Iranian studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Narguess Farzad Chair of the Centre for Iranian Studies, Soas University of London
Gwenaëlle Fellinger Senior curator, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Elina Filippone Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
Anna Filigenzi Associate professor of south and central Asian archaeology and art history, University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, Italy
Teresa Fitzherbert Faculty tutor in Islamic art, Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford
Aida Foroutan Art historian and independent scholar, University of Manchester
Ute Franke Former deputy director, Museum für Islamische Kunst – Staatliche Museen Berlin, presently in charge of the Iran projects of the museum
Melanie Gibson Arts series editor, Gingko Library, London
Sebastian Gondet Chargé de recherche au CNRS, Université Lyon2, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, France
Peter Good Lecturer in early modern Europe and the Islamic world, University of Kent
Hilary Gopnik Senior lecturer, Centre for Ancient Cultures, Monash University, Melbourne
Margaret Graves Associate professor, department of art history, University of Indiana Bloomington, US
Rosalind Haddon Honorary secretary of the Islamic Art Circle, London
Julia Hartley Leverhulme Fellow, University of Warwick
Seiro Haruta Department of Asian studies, Tokai University, Japan
Barbara Helwing Director, Vorderasiatisches Museum - Staatliche Museen Berlin
Wouter Henkelman École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
Pamela Karimi Associate professor of art history, College of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, US
Irina Khoshoridze Chief curator of oriental collections, Georgian National Museum, and professor, Tbilisi State University, Georgia
Karima Laachir Associate professor in Arabic Cultural Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
Francesca Leoni Curator of Islamic art, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Judith Lerner Research associate, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Professor in ancient history, Cardiff University, Wales
Emad Matin Post-doctoral research fellow, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università di Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
Charles Melville Emeritus professor of Persian history, University of Cambridge
Firuza I Melville Director of research, Pembroke Centre for Persian Studies, University of Cambridge
Vito Messina Associate professor in the archaeology of ancient Iran, University of Turin, and Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan, Italy
Leslee Michelsen Curator of collections and exhibitions, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, Honolulu
Natasha Morris Associate lecturer in Iranian and Islamic art, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Ali Mozaffari Fellow of the Australian Research Council, Deakin University, Australia
Stephennie Mulder Associate professor of Islamic art and architecture, University of Texas at Austin; President, Middle Eastern Medievalists, Texas
Alexander Nagel Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York
Naciem Nikkhah PhD candidate, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge
Bernard O’Kane Professor of Islamic art and architecture, American University in Cairo
Keelan Overton Independent scholar and historian of Islamic art and architecture, California
Nacim Pak-Shiraz Head of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, University of Edinburgh
Anja Pistor-Hatam Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany
Holly Pittman, Bok Family Professor in the humanities and curator at Penn Museum, Philadelphia
Dan Potts Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University
Khodadad Rezakhani Associate research scholar at The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar- Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, Princeton University, New Jersey
Yael Rice Assistant professor, Amherst College, Massachusetts
András Riedlmayer Documentation Center for Islamic Art and Architecture, Aga Khan Program, Harvard University, Massachusetts
Kristine Rose-Beers Manuscript conservator, Dublin, Ireland
Mariam Rosser Owen Middle East curator, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
David J Roxburgh Department chair and professor of history of art and architecture, Harvard University, Massachusetts
Miklós Sárközy Associate professor of Iranian studies, faculty of arts and social sciences, Károli Gáspár University of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Budapest
Katherine Butler Schofield Senior lecturer, King’s College London
Barbara Haus Schwepcke Founder, Gingko Library, London
Iain Shearer Lecturer in archaeology, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Jason Silverman Co-leader, Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires, University of Helsinki
Nur Sobers-Khan Curator, London
Margaret Squires Curatorial assistant for art of the Islamic worlds, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
Robert Steele, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg Visual resources librarian for Islamic art and Architecture, Harvard University Fine Arts Library, Massachusetts
Ilse Sturkenboom Lecturer in Iranian Islamic art history, University of St Andrews
Jill Unkel Museum curator, Dublin
Gabrielle van den Berg Professor of the cultural history of Iran and central Asia, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
Stefan Weber Director, Museum für Islamische Kunst – Staatliche Museen Berlin
Josef Wiesehöfer Emeritus professor, Institute of Classics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany
Paul D Wordsworth Research fellow, faculty of oriental studies, University of Oxford
Philipp Zobel Assistant curator, Museum für Islamische Kunst – Staatliche Museen Berlin
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