As Israeli airstrikes continue to hit Iranian territory following the escalation on June 13, 2025, the civilian toll is rising with disturbing speed—and clarity is beginning to emerge about the scale of human suffering involved.

Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) calls on all parties to the conflict to immediately reassert their legal obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL), particularly the core principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution.

Iran’s capital, Tehran, home to nearly 19 million people, is now gripped by anxiety and disarray. Reports from humanitarian field workers and local media suggest that mass evacuations began following threats from both Israeli and U.S. forces to target nuclear facilities located in or near the city. Some warnings were issued overnight, while others lacked the geographic specificity necessary for residents to make informed decisions—raising serious questions under Article 57 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which mandates that all feasible precautions be taken to protect civilians.

Current figures from Iranian health authorities and regional monitors estimate more than 240 civilian deaths and over 2,000 injuries—overwhelmingly among non-combatants—as a direct result of Israeli military actions. Israeli reports cite 24 fatalities and damage to a hospital from Iranian retaliatory strikes. The lopsided nature of these figures underscores the urgent need for restraint and diplomatic intervention before the region slides further into chaos.

Central to WJWC’s concern is the targeting of nuclear infrastructure. International law is unequivocal: under both IHL and conventions governing the protection of civilian nuclear facilities, such sites—unless directly and exclusively used for military purposes—must not be attacked. A strike on an active nuclear plant risks catastrophic fallout, not only for the population of Iran, but for neighboring states, the environment, and future generations. Such an attack would almost certainly violate the principles of proportionality and military necessity, and could trigger liability under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

WJWC urges Israeli forces to immediately cease any operations that place nuclear installations or population centers at risk. At the same time, Iranian authorities must take all feasible steps to prevent civilian areas from becoming military targets, including the removal of any dual-use infrastructure and a commitment not to shield military assets within civilian locales.

While multilateral institutions, including the G7 and the UN Security Council, have issued generalized calls for restraint, few have directly addressed the grave implications of a potential nuclear disaster. The international community must move beyond rhetorical symmetry. This is not a time for ambiguity—it is a time for preventive diplomacy and legal enforcement.

Equally alarming are the parallel crackdowns on information and transparency. Iranian authorities have instituted widespread internet blackouts and blocked access to messaging platforms, effectively cutting off entire communities from critical updates and family communication. These restrictions violate Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.

In Israel, journalists have faced growing obstacles to reporting on missile strikes and government military operations. Media outlets are reportedly required to obtain prior clearance before accessing affected areas—an approach that undermines the independence and speed of war reporting, and raises significant concerns about censorship.

Independent journalism and real-time reporting are not luxuries during wartime—they are lifelines. Without them, civilians are rendered voiceless, and violations of international law risk going unseen, unverified, and unpunished.

WJWC calls on the international community to take the following steps:

·         Support immediate de-escalation through urgent diplomatic engagement, with the UN Secretary-General and regional mediators empowered to broker a cessation of hostilities;

·         Enforce compliance with IHL, including through the establishment of an international fact-finding mission to assess civilian harm and investigate possible war crimes;

·         Impose a moratorium on arms transfers to any party credibly accused of violating international law;

·         Protect journalists and independent media, and insist on full access to conflict zones;

·         Safeguard nuclear infrastructure, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) granted full authority to monitor and inspect at-risk facilities.

Finally, WJWC stresses that this unfolding crisis must not obscure other urgent human rights emergencies in the region. The ongoing assault on Gaza—characterized by patterns that may meet the legal threshold for genocide—demands sustained attention. Simultaneously, the repression of Iranian civil society and the systematic targeting of dissidents and women’s rights activists continue unabated.

In conflict, the first casualty is often truth—but it is civilians who pay the highest price. The world must not avert its eyes.