UN says 3.2 million people now displaced in Iran as a result of US-Israeli war
The number of people displaced within Iran since the start of the US and Israel’s war on the country has reached 3.2 million, according to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR.
The number represents between 600,000 and one million households now temporarily displaced owing to the war that began on 28 February.
“This figure is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs,” Ayaki Ito, the agency's emergency coordinator for the Middle East said.
A large number of those affected are people fleeing the capital Tehran, with 100,000 leaving in the first two days of the war.
Many of those affected already have refugee status after fleeing countries such as Afghanistan, with Iran being a long-time host of 1.65 million people forced to flee the war in that country.
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The growing humanitarian crisis in Iran reflects a broader pattern of displacement across the region since the war began.
Across the affected countries, nearly 25 million people were already refugees, internally displaced, or people who had only recently returned home, making further displacement almost inevitable, the UN agency said.
In Lebanon the number of people forced to flee their homes since Israel began its bombardment has reached 800,000, according to aid agencies, with almost 100,000 sheltering in 440 collective sites, according to the Lebanese government.
The UNHCR's most recent figures show at least 33,600 Syrians and some 3,000 Lebanese have crossed into Syria.
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