{"id":12227,"date":"2026-04-18T07:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natharatmouchrika.net\/home\/?p=12227"},"modified":"2026-04-18T07:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:29:07","slug":"even-if-the-ceasefire-holds-and-the-war-comes-to-an-end-irans-academia-will-bear-great-costs-and-long-term-impacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/natharatmouchrika.net\/home\/?p=12227","title":{"rendered":"Even if the ceasefire holds and the war comes to an end, Iran\u2019s academia will bear great costs and long-term impacts."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Even if the ceasefire holds and the war comes to an end, Iran\u2019s academia will bear great costs and long-term impacts.<\/p>\n

hroughout their war on Iran, the U.S. and Israel broke many norms of military engagement, such as systematically targeting academic institutions in Iran. Universities became a major casualty, and explicit acknowledgements by Israeli leaders and some U.S. public figures clarified that these institutions were not collateral damage, but rather, intended targets. There are no definitive figures as to the number of higher education institutes targeted, but Iran\u2019s science minister, Hossein Simaei Saraf, has said more than 30 universities have been bombed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is truly unbelievable that in the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century, in the age of human rights, in the age of international law and international humanitarian law, civilian locations and civilians are being targeted,\u201d Simaei Saraf\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0reporters upon inspecting the ruins of the Laser and Plasma Research Institute at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran on April 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable that our adversary has gone back to the Stone Age rather than us coming from the Stone Age,\u201d he said, a reference to Donald Trump\u2019s infamous threat against Iran. Simaei Saraf added that the international community is deprived of Iran\u2019s human potential when the country\u2019s scientific centers become targets in military campaigns.<\/p>\n

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Founded in 1960 as the National University of Iran, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) is known for its robust law, literature, and architecture departments. The U.K.-based QS World University Rankings has\u00a0ranked<\/a>\u00a0Shahid Beheshti University 214th<\/sup>\u00a0in Asia among 1,534 universities listed regionally. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a former presidential candidate and leader of the 2009 Green Movement who has been under house arrest since 2011, is an SBU alumnus.<\/p>\n

The most shocking incident in this string of attacks was the bombing of Tehran\u2019s Sharif University of Technology, often referred to as Iran\u2019s MIT. In the early hours of April 6, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on the southern parts of the iconic campus destroyed several buildings, including the Philosophy of Science Group, High-Performance Computing Center, and Information and Communication Technology Center.<\/p>\n