By Dr Marwan Asmar
US-Israeli planes on Friday severely damaged a research center at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, in what appears to be a move targeting academic and civilian institutions and infrastructure.
The administration of Shahid Beheshti University condemned the attack, stating that the building served as an educational and research center, a significant portion of which was destroyed.
The bombing struck the Laser and Plasma Research Institute at the university. Academics expressed shock, noting that the center is a health research and learning facility with no connection to weapons production, and described the bombing as an act of pure vandalism and hatred.
Shahid Beheshti is not the first university targeted by the US-Israeli coalition in the past month. The Faculty of Pharmacy at Shiraz University was hit on March 14, and Isfahan University of Technology was attacked ten days later.
Strikes also targeted parts of the Science and Technology Campus and the Veterinary Specialized Hospital Campus at Urmia University, as well as Tehran’s University of Science and Technology.
Shahid Beheshti University is one of the country’s leading academic institutions, Iranian state media reported.
The university, established in 1960 and named after prominent revolutionary figure Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, is a major center for research and higher education in Tehran and has long been a hub for thousands of students and faculty.
The reported attacks on educational institutions come days after a series of US-Israel strikes targeted key civilian and research facilities, including the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a century-old biomedical research and public health institution.
Iran’s Health Ministry stated that the airstrike on the Pasteur Institute in central Tehran, which was hit last Thursday, caused severe damage, labeling the incident a “direct assault on international health security” and a violation of international law.
In response to the strikes on health infrastructure, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged international bodies to act, writing on the social media platform X: “What message does attacking hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and the Pasteur Institute, as a medical research centre in Iran, convey?” He called on the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and physicians worldwide to respond to what he described as a crime against humanity.
Dr Marwan Asmar is a journalist from Amman, Journdan
E-mail: marwan.asmar59@gmail.com
5 April 2026
Source: countercurrents.org