The United Nations refugee agency says forced displacement is likely to increase as the United States and Israel continue their deadly attacks across Iran.
Posted on March 12, 2026
More than three million people have been displaced in Iran since the United States and Israel launched a war against the country late last month, the United Nations says, as concerns grow about a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday that up to 3.2 million people – representing between 600,000 and one million Iranian households – have been forcibly displaced since the war began on February 28.
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“Most of them are reportedly fleeing Tehran and other major urban areas to the north of the country and rural areas in search of safety,” UNHCR official Ayaki Ito said in a statement.
“This figure is likely to continue to rise as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs.”
The US and Israeli militaries have continued to bomb Iran despite growing international condemnation and calls for a reduction in tension.
To date, more than 1,300 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks across the country, according to the latest figures from Iranian officials.
While the United States and Israel have said they are attacking Iranian leaders as well as military and nuclear infrastructure, Iran says thousands of civilian sites, such as schools and hospitals, have been attacked.
Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera on Thursday that medical teams have been responding to a growing number of casualties as attacks on urban areas have intensified in recent days.
“Most of these people are civilians,” Jafarian said, adding that more than 30 hospitals and health facilities have been damaged due to the attacks.
Explosions were heard in several parts of the capital, Tehran, and other Iranian cities on Thursday as the attacks continued.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said rescuers were digging through mounds of rubble as several multi-story apartment buildings were severely damaged in the recent attacks in a hard-hit neighborhood east of Tehran.
“We saw bodies being pulled out (from the rubble)… and the situation was far beyond what I can call disastrous,” Asadi said.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attack by launching a barrage of missiles and drones against US bases and other sites in countries across the Middle East region.
It has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical Gulf waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil transits, raising serious concerns about disruptions to global energy supplies.
