Iran
Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alongside the infographic published by Fars News Agency. File photo: AFP/Fars News Agency; Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Following threats by the Iranian military to target American and Israeli academic institutions in the Middle East and West Asia, a media affiliate of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday published an infographic listing the “American-Zionist universities” slated as targets, including a number of campuses in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Fars News Agency cited a statement from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), reporting that “at around 2:00 pm [local time] on Sunday, March 29, the university was targeted for the second time by a brutal aerial assault from the [Israeli] Zionist-American aggressors.”
The report added that, “based on initial reports, this attack, which struck one of the university's research centers, caused damage to several other buildings and resulted in minor injuries to four university staff members.”
The agency then published an infographic titled “American-Zionist universities caught in the crosshairs of Iran’s [strikes],” highlighting potential target institutions, including six centers in the Levant and Iraq, such as the American University of Baghdad and universities in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province.
Other potential targets reportedly include nine centers in Gulf Arab states - namely Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, and the American University of Dubai - as well as eight academic institutions in Israel, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
The report came hours after the IRGC warned on Sunday that American and Israeli universities in the Middle East and West Asia could be considered “legitimate targets” for Iran, citing attacks on Iranian universities by “the American-Zionist invader forces.”
The statement further advised “all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region, as well as residents in surrounding areas, to stay at least one kilometer away from these universities to protect their lives.”
The IRGC concluded by urging the US administration to “condemn the bombing of universities in an official statement no later than 12:00 pm on Monday, March 30, Tehran time” and to “rein in the brutal actions of its allied forces against universities and research centers” to safeguard its universities in the region, warning that “otherwise, the threat remains in effect and will be carried out.”
The Iranian military’s threat followed comments by Iranian foreign ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei late Saturday, who said that the Isfahan University of Technology (IUT) and the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) in Tehran “are just two among many universities and research centers deliberately attacked by the aggressors during the past 30 days of their illegal war on the Iranian nation.”
Baghaei further claimed that the “true objective” of the “American-Israeli aggression against Iran” is to “cripple our country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists.”
The threat against American and Israeli universities follows an earlier warning from Tehran to hotels and offices in the region allegedly hosting American and Israeli personnel who “fled their bases,” were “taking shelter in civilian areas,” and were “using innocent civilians as human shields.”
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