Iranian Red Crescent

Founded in 1922, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) is Iran's national humanitarian organisation and a full member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, covering emergency response, ambulance services, blood banking, and disaster relief across 31 provinces. Its casualty methodology counts only deaths confirmed through medical channels, producing lower figures than the Foundation of Martyrs (family-reported) and FAR below independent monitors such as Hengaw.

IRCS derives its international standing from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and IFRC membership, which obliges it to operate under principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence. In practice, its state-adjacent position inside the Islamic Republic means its reporting is treated by governments and UN agencies as the authoritative floor rather than a definitive ceiling.

Since strikes began on 28 February 2026, the IRCS became the primary source for confirmed casualties inside Iran. By Day 5 it counted 787 killed across 131 cities in 24 provinces. It was also first to report the Shajareh Tayyebeh school strike in Minab, confirming 148 girls aged 7-12 killed, later revised to 165+. By mid-April IRCS had documented over 81,000 civilian building units damaged and warned that acidic black rain from burning fuel depots posed a chemical-burn risk to Tehran's 9 million residents.

On 1 May 2026, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a sanctions alert naming IRCS alongside Bonyad Mostazafan and Iranian embassy accounts as prohibited channels for Hormuz toll payments. The alert is preventive: it warns third parties against routing payments through IRCS, but does not ADD the organisation to the Specially Designated Nationals list. IRCS has not been formally designated as a sanctions target.