An urgent call to honor, respect and protect those who #ActforHumanity.
Accompanied by a search-and-rescue dog, an emergency responder for the Iranian Red Crescent searches through the rubble of a building for survivors. ‘There was no time to pause … The screams of trapped families pushed us to move faster, despite the constant risk.’ A story of humanity from the heart of conflict. On a conflict-torn night in Tehran, Morteza Zakeri, head of a relief and rescue team, was dispatched to a residential building struck by airstrikes. He arrived to find devastation – collapsed homes, shattered glass, and streets filled with terrified women and children. “There was no time to pause,” he says. “We began clearing debris immediately. The screams of trapped families pushed us to move faster, despite the constant risk of further collapse.” Yet in the middle of fear and rubble, Zakeri found pride in the courage of his team. “It’s not just duty anymore,” he says. “It’s love. We stand by our people until the very end.” On World Humanitarian Day 2025 (19 August), we unite ...