Israel ‘deliberately’ targeted Iranian Red Crescent teams: Official

Tehran, IRNA – Israeli attacks on members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) during the regime’s 12-day war of aggression last month were “completely intentional,” IRCS Chairman Pirhossein Kolivand has declared.

“The attacks were fully intentional and not random,” Kolivand said on Monday while speaking at a weekly press conference of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.

“Footage from surveillance cameras at our centers broke my heart,” Kolivand said. “Despite the bombings, staff bravely continued caring for their patients without seeking shelter.”

He emphasized that medical centers are supposed to be protected under the Geneva Conventions, yet they were “consciously and heavily targeted” by the Israeli regime.

According to Kolivand, Red Crescent ambulances and staff were clearly marked and identifiable from all angles, making the justification of accidental targeting implausible.

“These were not stray missiles. Our uniforms, our vehicles, everything clearly showed we were humanitarian workers. Yet we were attacked while providing aid,” he said.

The official also described the scenes he witnessed as reminiscent of Ashura tragedies, saying, “We saw children torn apart like Ali Asghar, and the suffering of our Abbas and Zaynab. It was real, not a story. Homes burned. Innocents massacred. There was no mercy,” he said in reference to suffering by family members of Imam Hossein (PBUH), including his newborn son Ali Asghar who was killed during the battle of Karbala 14 centuries ago.

Israel attacked Iran in an unprovoked act of aggression on June 13, assassinating military commanders and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes, and killing civilians in air raids on residential areas. The war was halted on June 24 after the Tel Aviv regime requested a ceasefire following retaliatory missile strikes by Iran.