Iran: Attacking injured protestors and healthcare workers violates medical neutrality

In January 2026, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran massacred protesters and healthcare workers in a swathe of mass violence.12 The violence represents a disturbing violation of the principle of medical neutrality that should confer protection of healthcare facilities and staff under international law. In response to the atrocities, the international medical community must show professional solidarity and fulfil its ethical responsibility to hold Iran accountable for sustained and deliberate attacks on patients, healthcare workers, and medical facilities.3

After the protests began on 28 December 2025, doctors and healthcare professionals reported unprecedented levels of violence against unarmed protesters, healthcare workers, and hospitals—including pregnant women and children.4 Most protesters were killed over two days on 8 and 9 January, after a complete nationwide internet and communications blackout.3 The International Center for Human Rights and other sources estimate that as many as 43 000 protesters have been killed with more than 350 000 injured.235 Doctors have warned of life changing injuries.6 Thousands of protesters might have lost their eyesight due to the deliberate targeting of the eyes and head.5 Toxic or incapacitating chemical agents resulting in delayed neurological symptoms, sudden loss of consciousness, and slow deaths were used in the protests—contrary to their prohibition for crowd control by international law.7

Patients have been arrested in hospitals by security forces while the hospital staff have been overwhelmed by mass casualties. Iran ordered and enabled the intimidation and arrest of healthcare workers and direct attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers treating injured protestors.89 Security forces abducted critically wounded protesters from hospitals and held them in unknown locations or abandoned them to die.68 In several hospitals, security forces fired tear gas and metal pellets; broke doors; assaulted patients, family members, and healthcare workers; and arrested injured protestors and the healthcare workers caring for them.451011 Doctors and nurses are working under constant threat from armed security forces.11 This violence is a direct assault on global medical ethics and undermines international laws that designate hospitals as safe spaces regardless of political context 101112^,

The arrests of patients has deterred other protesters from seeking medical care, directly endangering lives.1012 There have been several reports that attacks on hospitals and clinics have prompted doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers to treat injured protestors in their homes—with many of them arrested for doing so.13

This violence constitutes a profound crisis for the medical profession in Iran and internationally. We call on the international community to uphold professional solidarity and demand accountability for Iran’s actions. State authorities attacking and arresting injured protestors, doctors, and healthcare workers in hospitals is a systematic violation of medical neutrality.10 With attacks on healthcare workers and facilities increasing in armed conflicts and civil unrest worldwide,11 silence from the global medical community risks normalising attacks and enabling further harm and death. When the fundamental protections of patients and the professionals who care for them are breached, the entire global healthcare community must speak out, document violent acts, and demand accountability.

At the time of writing, four international medical organisations have condemned the attacks: World Medical Association, BMA, Canadian Medical Association, and Germany’s Marburger Bund. They denounce violations of medical neutrality, calling for the protection of healthcare workers, medical facilities, and the right of patients to receive care without fear or interference.10121415

Further national and international medical associations can respond by issuing public statements condemning violations and demanding the release of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, students, and other healthcare workers who have been arrested for providing care to injured protestors. We urge the World Health Organization and United Nations bodies to investigate and reprimand violations of medical neutrality. Under international and humanitarian laws, the Iranian medical community in Iran must be supported and protected in their work.

Clinicians should never be forced to choose between their patients’ lives and their own safety. When hospitals are filled with violence and staff risk arrest and execution for providing care, medicine itself is under attack. Defending medical neutrality in Iran is a defence of the ethical foundation upon which the integrity of global healthcare depends.