Iran announces 1,230 dead in US-Israel attacks

The United States (US) and Israel continue to attack Iran. Iranian authorities report more than 1,200 people killed as a result of the barrage of attacks by the two countries since the weekend. The Iran Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation, a body affiliated with the Iranian government, as reported by Iranian media Press TV on Friday (6 March 2026), announced that at least 1,230 people had been killed as martyrs since Saturday (28 February) local time, when the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran. Washington and Tel Aviv claim their strikes targeted Iran’s missile system, naval forces, and locations of command and control for the Iranian military. However, according to Press TV, the coordinated strikes largely targeted civilian areas in Tehran and other cities in Iran. In the first wave of attacks, the US and Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and high-ranking military commanders. In the past less than a week, US and Israeli air strikes have hit civilian targets in Iran, including schools, hospitals, sporting facilities, cultural heritage sites, and densely populated residential areas. In the past few days, Iranians have held funerals for hundreds of victims in the capital Tehran and other cities. Senior Iranian officials, in statements, stressed that any deliberate attack by the US and Israel on Tehran’s civilian sites and cultural heritage sites constitutes a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and an undeniable war crime”. Iran has responded by launching a wave of missile and drone attacks against targets in Israel and US bases in Gulf states. President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that his country has no other choice but to defend itself in the face of the joint US-Israeli military attack. In a message to regional leaders, Pezeshkian emphasised Iran’s respect for the sovereignty of other nations.