The unthinkable has happened. A coordinated military campaign by the United States and Israel against Iran has reportedly left thousands dead, with casualty figures climbing by the hour. Independent observers and humanitarian organisations on the ground are struggling to verify the true scale of the devastation, warning that the fog of war may permanently obscure the final count.
Early reports indicate waves of airstrikes targeted military installations, nuclear facilities, and infrastructure across Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz. Civilian areas have not been spared. Videos circulating on social media, authenticated by geolocation experts, show entire city blocks reduced to rubble. Hospitals are overwhelmed. The Iranian government has declared a state of emergency and called for international intervention.
But the numbers coming out of the region are disputed. Official statements from US Central Command claim precision strikes against “legitimate military targets” with minimal civilian harm. Israeli Defence Forces echo this line. Yet aid agencies on the ground tell a different story. "We are seeing mass casualties, families buried under debris, and a healthcare system that has completely collapsed," said a Médecins Sans Frontières coordinator who asked not to be named for security reasons. "The real death toll will never be known. Bodies are being recovered without documentation. Communications are down in several provinces."
This is where my expertise in data and digital sovereignty becomes relevant. In modern warfare, the truth is often the first casualty. But here, even the digital infrastructure that could verify claims is under attack. Iran’s internet has been severely disrupted, with only 15% of pre-war connectivity remaining according to NetBlocks. Satellite imagery is being jammed. Independent fact-checkers are being targeted with disinformation. We are entering an information blackout.
As a technologist who has spent years in Silicon Valley obsessing over the ethics of AI and the fragility of our digital world, this is the nightmare scenario I always feared. Without open data, without verified sources, without the ability to crowdsource evidence from smartphones and satellites, we are left with the narratives of those who hold the bombs. The algorithm of war is rewriting its own history.
Let’s look at what we do know. The International Committee of the Red Cross has reported that over 2,000 bodies have been received at just three morgues in Tehran. That number alone suggests a total death toll in the tens of thousands. But consider the unreported villages, the displaced families fleeing on foot, the children separated from parents. The true number may never be calculated because the systems that count are themselves destroyed.
The user experience of society has been shattered. Citizens are in shock. Social media is awash with frantic pleas for help, but also with bots amplifying propaganda. My own tools for verifying identity and source credibility feel inadequate here. We are witnessing the weaponisation of information itself.
There are also reports of cyber attacks on Iranian banking systems, freezing assets and disrupting aid transfers. This is a quantum leap in the scope of economic warfare. The digital sovereignty of a nation is being dismantled in real time.
What can we do? First, demand independent investigation. The United Nations must have unfettered access. Second, support open-source intelligence efforts to document evidence before it is erased. Third, hold our leaders accountable for the human cost of these algorithms of destruction. The future we are building must not be one where the truth is a luxury only the powerful can afford.
For now, we count the dead with trembling hands. We mourn the lives lost. And we fight for the right to know the full extent of this tragedy. Because if history is written by the victors, we must ensure it is not written in lies.
