UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the war

DUBAI: Up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the Middle East war erupted, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

“Between 600,000 and one million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside Iran as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to preliminary assessments,” said Ayaki Ito, who heads UNHCR’s emergency support team and is the refugee response coordinator for the Middle East emergency.

That represents “up to 3.2 million people,” he said in a statement, warning that “this figure is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs.”

The United States and Israel launched the first wave of attacks on February 28 in a war that has seen Iran strike targets in multiple countries around the Gulf.

Ito said that most of those displaced were reportedly “fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas toward the north of the country and rural areas to seek safety.”