LONDON / GENEVA / PARIS / NEW YORK (Shabnam Delfani) — A broad coalition of academics, researchers, students, and members of the international scholarly community has issued a strongly worded open letter condemning a series of strikes on universities, laboratories, hospitals, and research facilities in Iran, urging immediate international action to safeguard civilian scientific infrastructure amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military operations against the country.
The letter, addressed to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and the governments of all parties involved, highlights at least 21 reported attacks on scientific and educational institutions. It warns that such assaults endanger researchers, students, medical personnel, and the broader public while inflicting irreversible damage on scientific progress and societal well-being.
Recent strikes between March 28 and 31, 2026, have drawn particular alarm. Attacks targeted Isfahan University of Technology in Isfahan, as well as Iran University of Science and Technology and Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran. On March 31, one of Iran’s largest pharmaceutical research and development centers, Tofigh Daru (also known as Tofiq Daru), was severely damaged. The facility is a major producer of anesthetics and critical treatments for multiple sclerosis and cancer.
“Scientific and educational institutions are civilian spaces essential to public health, knowledge, and human survival,” the open letter declares. “Their destruction endangers researchers, students, medical personnel, and the broader public, while causing lasting harm to science and society.”
The signatories issue a forceful call for all parties to the conflict to immediately cease attacks on civilian scientific and educational sites, including laboratories, universities, hospitals, research centers, libraries, and archives. They further demand that the United Nations, UNESCO, and other relevant international bodies take concrete steps: thoroughly document the damage inflicted on these institutions, provide protection and support to affected scholars and students, launch independent investigations into potential violations of international humanitarian law, and ensure that those responsible for unlawful strikes on protected civilian infrastructure are identified and held accountable through impartial legal mechanisms.
“Science is not a military target. Universities and laboratories must not become battlefields,” the letter asserts. It concludes with an urgent appeal to the international community to act decisively to protect scientific infrastructure, defend academic life, and uphold the fundamental principle that institutions dedicated to the advancement of knowledge must never be treated as expendable in times of war.
In response to the escalating strikes, Iranian officials have warned of possible retaliation against American and Israeli-linked academic campuses in the region, raising fears of a dangerous widening of the conflict into educational spheres.
The open letter, signed collectively by “academics, researchers, students, and members of the global scholarly community,” underscores the long-standing international consensus on preserving the sanctity of scientific and educational institutions even amid geopolitical tensions and armed conflict. It stresses that safeguarding academic freedom and scientific capacity serves the collective well-being of humanity and must be defended against future assaults.
This appeal comes as reports continue to emerge of significant material damage to Iranian academic and medical research facilities, with some accounts noting injuries among university staff. The global scholarly community’s unified stance reflects growing concern that the targeting of Iranian Scientists and knowledge-producing institutions threatens not only Iran but the broader fabric of international scientific cooperation.
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