my iphone was stolen, can i backup to icloud before deleting the device?

Sorry about your phone…but you shouldn’t delete the device that would let the thieves use it. You want to put it in lost mode and erase it if you want. This will brick the phone. About the backup, if you had backup on, you’ll have the last backup from the last time it backed up on WiFi. There is no way to remotely backup an iPhone. You can remotely erase your device using the Find My app or at iCloud.com/find. If your device has iOS 15 or later, or iPadOS 15 or later, you can still use Find My or iCloud.com/find to locate it after you erase it.

Also, do NOT delete the device from your account. Doing so, will release the device so the thieves will be able to wipe it and either sell or use it themselves. Put it in Lost Mode, but DON'T remove the device.

Sorry, but backups MUST happen before catastrophe strikes. You can't backup or turn on services in iCloud on a stolen phone.

Deleting the device implies that you are throwing in the towel and are willing to let the bad guys do anything that they want with your phone.

I don't know why you would want to do this.

True, you will never see the phone again, but at least you can frustrate the bad guys by not allowing them to erase the phone and sell it as an unlocked phone. Instead, the phone will be Activation Locked and useless to anyone who tries to use the phone.

Also, not sure why you felt you need to start a new thread on this. You're complicating things and should stick with your first thread.