Iran classifies Israelis, US CENTCOM forces as “military personnel”

Iran's parliament has classified Israelis living in territories controlled by Israel, as well as personnel of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and forces under its command, as “military personnel”

The new provisions to a bill on combating international crimes introduce new legal definitions for participants in armed conflicts, Caliber.Az reports, citing Iranian media.

The bill states that this status applies regardless of whether they are armed at a given moment.

The legislation also provides that property, buildings and infrastructure may lose their protected civilian status if, in Iran's assessment, their products or services are used directly or indirectly by Israel or CENTCOM forces.

At the same time, the bill preserves the principle of distinguishing between civilians and military personnel for all other categories of conflict participants.

It defines an internal armed conflict as a confrontation between the state and organised armed groups with a unified command that have controlled part of the country's territory for at least six months.

Ordinary domestic unrest or isolated incidents do not fall under this definition.

Lawmakers also adopted an official definition of "sanctions," describing them as economic, banking, trade and transport restrictions imposed by foreign states that, in Tehran's view, violate fundamental human rights and limit access to food, medicine and civil aviation.

In addition, at the initiative of lawmakers, schools and universities were added to the list of facilities protected as civilian infrastructure, alongside hospitals.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov