Protection of Family Links (PFL) is a range of activities aimed at preventing family separation and disappearance of persons, restoring and maintaining contact between family members, searching for missing persons and providing answers to their families, as well as reuniting families in the context of armed conflict, natural or man-made disasters, migration, and other humanitarian situations.

The PFL programme in Iran dates back to the Iran–Iraq War and the exchange of thousands of Red Cross Messages between prisoners of war and their families.

The ICRC and the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) work together to help persons separated from their families maintain or restore contact with their relatives through tracing activities, phone and video calls, Red Cross Messages (RCM), and other family links services. When feasible, the ICRC facilitates family reunification, particularly for unaccompanied minors.

The ICRC also supports the IRCS in strengthening its capacity to provide family links services through training sessions and workshops for its volunteers and staff.

During the escalation of hostilities in the region and increased humanitarian needs, the ICRC in Iran helped restore and maintain family links by processing requests shared by Movement partners on behalf of families abroad who have lost contact with their relatives in Iran. The ICRC contacted the relatives through phone calls to check on their wellbeing and informed their families abroad.