Zarif: Threats to destroy Iran's civilization centers, clear case of "cultural terrorism"

Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said on Monday that US President Donald Trump's threat to target Iran's cultural and civilization centers amounted to "Cultural Terrorism" and continuation of US disregard of International Law.

Zarif made the remarks in a conference on safeguarding cultural assets and world heritage held in National Library of Iran.

He recalled Trump's threat to hit 52 Iranian cultural centers if Iran took retaliatory military strike against the US interests.

He said that respecting civilization and cultural heritage is in fact to esteem humanity; and attacking the cultural heritage is actually attacking the soul of humanity and history.

He added that according to international agreements, like The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict signed in 1954, destroying cultural heritage is an unforgivable crime. And according to the Second Protocol to the same agreement, countries need to protect the cultural property even during armed conflicts.