Tehran, Iran – Iran has demanded it receive compensation for the destruction caused by attacks by the United States and Israel, as the country remains defiant and regional powers continue their efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.
Tehran’s envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday that five regional countries must pay compensation, following allegations that their territories were used to launch attacks on Iran.
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Iran has also raised the idea of compensation for damages caused through the Strait of Hormuz Protocol, which would include taxes on ships passing through the waterway.
A preliminary estimate indicates that Iran has suffered direct and indirect losses of about $270 billion since the start of the US-Israel war on February 28, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said during an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency published on Tuesday.
He did not provide further details, such as details of the damage, but said the issue of compensation was discussed at talks between Tehran and Washington in Pakistan last week, and would be raised in any potential future talks with the US and mediators.
The government said it was still assessing the extensive damage caused to Iran’s critical infrastructure after repeatedly targeting oil and gas facilities, petrochemical companies, steel plants and aluminum factories in addition to military complexes. It will take many years to completely rebuild them.
Bridges, port and railway networks, universities and research centres, and numerous power plants and water desalination plants were also directly affected, while a large number of hospitals, schools and civilian homes were damaged or destroyed.
‘Economic Realities’
Spokesman Mohajerani told Iranian state media earlier this week that “current economic realities” mean the government does not have the resources to compensate civilians if their homes are damaged or destroyed by US-Israeli strikes.
Meanwhile, Maghsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of the Association of Iranian Airlines, told Iranian media that 60 civilian aircraft have been taken out of commission, while 20 have been completely destroyed by the US and Israel.
The official said Iran still has about 160 passenger planes in operation, most of them decades old and kept in the air through maintenance work that has been difficult due to a shortage of parts and services as a result of tight US sanctions.
Samani said that airlines had lost much of the revenue that came during the Nowruz or Persian New Year holidays in late March, and their accumulated losses in the 40 days of the war had exceeded 300 trillion riyals (about $190 million at the current exchange rate).
Several international airports in the country, including Tehran, Tabriz, Urmia and Khorramabad, were significantly damaged following multiple attacks on their runways, control towers and hangars.
Despite the scope and depth of the damage, as well as the impact of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports that began on Monday, Iranian officials have signaled that they do not intend to make major concessions in talks with Washington, including on nuclear enrichment.
Ibrahim Rezai, spokesman for the hardline-dominated parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said in a social media post that the two-week ceasefire announced last week should not be extended, arguing that it would give the US and Israel a chance to replenish their weapons stockpiles and improve conditions for an attack.
“They must either recognize Iran’s rights, including our control of the Strait of Hormuz, or return to war,” he wrote.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank, Iran has dedicated about $8 billion to military spending in 2024, and officials promised to triple that budget after a missile exchange with Israel in October that year. But the government has also faced years of budget deficits, compounded by local mismanagement and corruption, and compounded by US sanctions.
Internet shutdown causes harm
The state-imposed near-complete internet shutdown against more than 90 million Iranians is exacerbating Iran’s economic problems and frustrating citizens for the seventh consecutive week.
Following large numbers of layoffs and lost business opportunities as a result of the blackout, the government has said it has no authority over the matter, instead placing blame on the Supreme National Security Council.
Afshin Kolahi, head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce commission, said in a video conference with state-affiliated and private officials on Monday that the shutdown was causing direct and indirect economic losses of up to $80 million per day.
“We’re losing four B1 bridges every day. We’re losing two medium-capacity power plants every day, and we’re doing that ourselves,” he said in reference to the cost of the internet shutdown and the US-Israeli bombing of a major bridge near Tehran earlier this month.
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology reposted the video of the comments on its social media accounts. In January, when thousands of people were killed during anti-government protests across the country, the state imposed a nearly 20-day internet shutdown, with the ministry saying many online businesses could not survive more than three weeks without internet.
Now, with no prospect of full reconnection in sight, the ministry is moving ahead with a plan to create a tiered internet system.
This week, it announced that many business representatives enrolled through its communities have signed up to gain access to a global Internet connection, while the rest of the population is tied to a limited local intranet.
Telecommunications companies are offering a new service called “Internet Pro” to select customers deemed eligible by the state, which costs more than regular data packs but provides less filtered access to the Internet. Some users have reported that they have made the payment and are waiting for the service to be activated.
But even in the comments section of state-linked sites, one of the few places where Iranians can currently express themselves online, the Internet is the main discussion of the day. On the website of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars news agency, the main hashtag demands “Internet freedom.”
On Monday, security officials ordered Digiauto, a major technology-focused media outlet, to remove a countdown timer from its website that was documenting how long Iran has been plunged into digital darkness.
A profitable black market exists for those selling Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and potentially any other method of offering links to the outside world.
