Israel bombs two Iranian universities, alleging military use

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed targeting two Iranian universities, namely, Malek-Ashtar University and Imam Hossein University, alleging their military use by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as a space research centre.

The development came amid escalating conflict following initial joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February to which Iran and its regional allies responded with attacks on Israeli and US interests across the Middle East.

On 21 March, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement titled “STRUCK: A strategic research and development facility belonging to the Iranian military industries and the ballistic missiles array”.

High-resolution Pleiades satellite imagery distributed by Airbus confirms the strike reported by the IDF on a large building at Malek Ashtar University.

“The Malek-Ashtar University facility was utilised by the Iranian terror regime’s military industries and ballistic missiles array to develop nuclear weapon components and weapons,” the IDF said.

“It was subordinate to the Iranian Defence Ministry, and is sanctioned internationally due to its activities and efforts over the years to advance the Iranian nuclear programme and to develop ballistic missiles,” the IDF added.

Malek Ashtar University was listed back in 2014 by the United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) as: “A subordinate of the DTRSC [Defense Technology and Science Research Center] within MODAFL [Iran’s Defence Ministry].”

This included research groups previously falling under the Physics Research Center (PHRC), according to the Security Council website.

At the time International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had “not been allowed to interview staff or see documents under the control of this organisation to resolve the outstanding issue of the possible military dimension to Iran's nuclear programme”, the 2014 listing said.

Earlier this month, on 14 March, the IDF issued a statement on X announcing that it had struck Iran’s main space research centre saying it “contained laboratories used for research and for developing military satellites for surveillance, intelligence gathering and fire direction across the Middle East”.

On 7 March, the IDF announced that it targeted Imam Hossein University (IHU) in Tehran. The statement said that IHU was a “military university” and was a “key Iranian-regime military infrastructure” used for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, for “officer training” and as an “assembly compound”.

’No university is safe’

The targeting of universities has been questioned by experts in international law and international legal and human rights organisations.

Neve Gordon, professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London, told University World News: “The claim that the research carried out at the Iranian universities is contributing to the war effort and therefore they are fair game opens the gates of hell to higher education.

“Whether we like it or not, the best universities around the world contribute research to military industries, weapon production, surveillance systems, and the like, and if this research becomes a legitimate justification for bombing them, then no university is safe.

“Yet, again, we see how the US and Israel are eroding the post-World War II legal order and establishing an international order where might makes right.”

IDF history of ‘targeting civilians’

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor in global thought and comparative philosophies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, told University World News: “No army of the world is benign, but several scholars have documented that the IDF has had a particularly sorry history of targeting civilian institutions, including universities.

“The genocidal campaign in Palestine is a case in point, and the same homicidal tactics were pursued in Lebanon and now in Iran.”

In a statement, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has condemned the air attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, calling them “a grave violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, and a significant threat to international peace and security, and to the enjoyment of human rights and humanitarian protection of people in multiple countries”.

The American Association for the International Commission of Jurists also issued a statement condemning the attack against Iran, which it said was “without authorisation from the UN Security Council or legal basis under the charter of the UN”.

Criticism from Israel

Professor David Harel, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, told University World News: “I totally disagree with those bombings,” referring to Israel’s bombing of Iranian universities.

Unverified social media reports claim the Tehran University of Space Science and Technology was hit on 23 March and that the Supreme National Defense University, used for training military officers, was hit on 9 March.