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Iran rehabilitation records show why services are not a count of war casualties

ICRC records show an established rehabilitation network serving Afghan migrants and Iranians. Service totals cannot be treated as a count of new war injuries.

프리즘코리아 편집국 > Nora Ellis
North Tehran buildings and green space beneath snow-topped mountains
North Tehran on 26 April 2018. Archival geographic context, not a rehabilitation centre or a scene from the 2026 war. Ninara / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. · 사진 / Photo · Ninara · 출처 / Source · CC-BY-SA · Contributor-declared changes: Reused owned PRISM stored rendition of Commons crop, server re-encoding only; CC BY-SA 3.0 retained.. PRISM automatically re-encoded with JPEG quality 82; 1280x1011 to 1280x1011 pixels, aspect ratio retained with no upscaling.

Iran's humanitarian response includes rehabilitation services that predate the 2026 war. The ICRC's Iran page records 1,000 physical rehabilitation services in January-June 2026, not 1,000 newly injured people.

Its 2024 activity report traces cooperation with Iranian Red Crescent centres in Mashhad to 2018, Zahedan to 2021 and Tehran to 2022. Local NGOs help identify people with disabilities and refer them to these centres.

That report lists prosthetics, orthotics, wheelchairs, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. It records 1,185 services for 548 Afghan migrants and Iranians in 2024, illustrating why services and individuals are different measures.

Interpretation

The ICRC's current FAQ describes support for vulnerable Afghan migrants and local communities. The older report establishes programme history, not today's access at each centre. Reading the records together shows why rehabilitation totals should not be recast as a casualty count or proof that every person needing care has received it.

Nora Ellis프리즘코리아 편집국 > Nora Ellis

Original sources

  1. ICRC Iran — January-June 2026 activity totals ↗
  2. ICRC Iran — Activities in 2024, physical rehabilitation ↗
  3. ICRC — Frequently asked questions: work in Iran ↗
#Red Cross humanitarian response in Iran during 2026
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