Iran's premier science and engineering institution – Sharif University of Technology in Tehran – was bombed on Monday. The attack destroyed and damaged multiple buildings, including what authorities described as an artificial intelligence center housing critical databases. The university's website and other online services went offline.
University President Masoud Tajrishi stated, "We believe the enemy targeted these buildings and destroyed the entire infrastructure because it did not want us to achieve AI technology." He emphasized, "The enemy does not want us to succeed or have development and progress, but these attacks have united all our universities." Tajrishi also noted that due to US sanctions and competitive advantages, no country was willing to provide Iran with the knowledge and know-how for AI technology, so all research was conducted domestically.
The strikes are part of an escalating pattern: following the Sharif University attack, low-flying cruise missiles were visible over downtown Tehran, and air defense systems were activated. Attacks have not been limited to universities but have extended to a series of research centers, including the century-old Pasteur Institute, a photonics lab at Shahid Beheshti University, and a satellite development lab at the University of Science and Technology.
According to Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei Saraf, over 30 universities have been affected by US and Israeli attacks since the war began on February 28. These strikes prompted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to declare US and Israeli-affiliated universities "legitimate targets."
However, Tehran University President Mohammad Hossein Omid, on behalf of 15 top university heads, wrote a letter urging the IRGC to refrain from attacking other universities to demonstrate Tehran's commitment to safeguarding higher education facilities as "human and global heritage." But after backlash from hardline media, Omid shifted his position and demanded retaliatory strikes in kind.
The US and Israeli regimes continue to expand their attacks: Israeli military forces struck Iran's railway network on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb critical civilian infrastructure, such as the country's main power plants and bridges, which would constitute a violation of international law. Trump claimed "a whole civilization will die tonight" in Iran and boasted that if the war continues, it could take 100 years for Iran to rebuild.
The systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure has raised deep concerns among many Iranians. A Shahid Beheshti University student (who requested anonymity) said, "It was a strange feeling waking up in the morning and seeing your university attacked, not to mention the terror of feeling you might not have electricity to check anything tomorrow." He added, "If you can justify attacks on power plants, steel, petrochemicals, bridges, universities, and science institutes, you can justify anything."
The attacks have intensified internal and external tensions: the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency claimed the strike on Sharif University could not have occurred without "betrayal" from dissidents abroad. It accused former Sharif professor Ali Sharifi Zarchi of leaking the coordinates of the bombed center without providing evidence. Sharifi Zarchi responded that the center is marked on Google Maps and, while unequivocally condemning attacks on universities and other civilian sites, stated that "the aim of any attacks should be the overthrow of the Islamic Republic regime, which has held the Iranian people hostage through repression, mass killings, and internet shutdowns."
In a letter published by non-governmental student groups, US and Israeli attacks are condemned, but the Iranian government is held responsible for pursuing policies that put it on a collision course with the two countries and their allies. The students wrote, "Our people want to work, to study, to breathe, to have access to the internet, and to build their own future. Minds that leave do not return. A girl who is detained no longer studies. A child whose school is bombed does not grow up. The cost of these losses will be paid by all of our futures – including those who benefit from this divide today."
At Sharif University, a mathematics professor held an online class amidst the ruins of a bombed building, demonstrating defiance and continuity. Authorities placed nearby placards reading, "Trump's help has arrived." This references repeated claims by the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they wish to "help" the Iranian people overthrow the Islamic Republic, which came to power after the 1979 revolution but has faced nationwide protests in recent years.
Source: www.aljazeera.com