🔶 People of Iran caught between two fires; what do the rules of war say?

🔶 People of Iran caught between two fires; what do the rules of war say?

🔻 Report by Atefeh Chaharmahali

In the latest wave of U.S. attacks, Iran’s southern coasts have once again become the scene of killings of the public. On Tuesday, 11 Shahrivar (September 1, 2026), the United States announced that it targeted positions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in southern Iran.

At the same time, reports of explosions were released from Sirik, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Jask, Assaluyeh, Chabahar, Konarak, and areas of Khuzestan.

While the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says the U.S. military does not target noncombatants, in the Khouhestak area of Sirik, a residential building where a wedding ceremony was taking place was severely damaged, and reports said civilians were killed and injured.

The Hormozgan provincial government and local officials have reported the deaths of at least four people, including a child, and dozens of injuries. Two days earlier, the Larak island had also been targeted by a U.S. attack.

This is not the first time that the name of a non-civilian location in Iran has been linked to the destruction of sites and the deaths of civilians during these confrontations.

After months of military clashes in Iran, however, beyond conflicting narratives, the blood of defenseless citizens continues to spill on the ground without practical answers to some of the most fundamental human-rights questions: What obligations does international law set for the parties to an armed conflict regarding the lives of civilians? What duties does each of the parties have to protect the people trapped in the middle of this war?

In this report, Bahar Saba, senior researcher on Iran at Human Rights Watch, and Mo‘in Khazayli, a lawyer and human-rights researcher, answer these questions in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

In response to what the law says about civilians in wars, Bahar Saba, emphasizing the principle of distinction, says: “The parties to the conflict must distinguish between combatants and civilians; they must refrain from attacking civilians and from indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and take all possible precautions to reduce harm to civilians. Objectives such as homes, schools, and hospitals are, in principle, civilian objects and are protected.”

Mo‘in Khazayli, a lawyer and human-rights researcher, also points to the principle of distinction in this regard, saying: “Based on Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the parties to the conflict are required to make a distinction between combatants and civilians, and also between military and civilian places and property; therefore, direct attacks against civilians or civilian places and property are prohibited.”