Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Hossein Simaee Sarraf, has issued a scathing condemnation of what he described as a deliberate and coordinated campaign by the United States and Israel to destroy Iran’s academic and scientific infrastructure, revealing that more than 30 Iranian universities have been struck since the onset of the current conflict, and that over 60 professors have been killed since June 2025.
Speaking exclusively to Sputnik International, Minister Sarraf made clear that the deaths of these academics were not incidental casualties of broader military operations, but the result of premeditated targeting. “These professors did not die as a result of a single attack or bombing. The US and Israel deliberately targeted them and planned their killing. This is a crime not only against international law, but a moral one,” he stated.
The minister framed Iran’s scientific community as a civilisational asset that transcends national borders, asserting that the country’s intellectual development constitutes “the heritage of all humanity” and insisting that no military campaign could extinguish it. Sarraf pointed to the transformative legacy of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which he credited with producing “millions” of scientists and young researchers — a generational depth of talent that, in his words, the US-Israeli coalition could not hope to eliminate entirely.
The targeting of academic institutions and the assassination of scholars represent a particularly grave dimension of the ongoing conflict, raising urgent questions under international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilian educational infrastructure and non-combatant intellectuals. The systematic nature of the strikes, as described by Iranian authorities, suggests a strategic objective aimed at degrading Iran’s long-term scientific and technological capacity — a form of warfare with consequences that would extend far beyond the immediate theatre of conflict.
Iran has consistently maintained that its scientific advancement, including in the fields of nuclear research, aerospace, and medicine, is a sovereign right and a source of national pride, and that external efforts to suppress it through violence will ultimately prove futile.
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