WANA (Mar 30) – In a strongly worded joint communique, Iran’s Minister of Science, Dr. Simaei Sarraf, and Minister of Health, Dr. Zafarghandi, denounced a series of targeted military strikes by the United States and the “Zionist regime” against academic and medical institutions across the country.

 

The text of the joint statement by Dr. Simaei Sarraf, Minister of Science, and Dr. Zafarghandi, Minister of Health, is as follows:

 

“On March 15, we witnessed damage to the Faculty of Pharmacy at Shiraz University following an attack by aggressors. On March 24 of this year, Isfahan University of Technology was subjected to military aggression by the invading regime of the United States of America and the fake Zionist regime.

 

Furthermore, in some of the attacks by these two invading forces, parts of the Science and Technology Campus and the Veterinary Specialist Hospital Campus of the University of Urmia were damaged.

 

The Iran University of Science and Technology was also targeted by aggression in March of this year. These are only a fraction of the regrettable actions taken by the American and Israeli aggressors against the sacred sanctuary of Iranian universities.

 

In addition to targeting academic premises and educational treatment centers, academic figures have also been the target of the barbaric actions of the enemies of this land.

 

The assassination of scientists, which occurred during the June 2025 aggression by those two regimes against our beloved country, continues in the recent attacks by these two bloodthirsty regimes. Unfortunately, news of martyred academics, including both students and professors, is received daily from various universities across the country.

 

What has been mentioned is but a drop in the ocean of the crimes committed by the regimes of the United States of America and Israel; actions that are not only inconsistent with the principles of honor and ethics but are also contrary to the standards of international law.

 

This action is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which is the primary basis for the protection of non-military persons and structures during wartime.

 

Specifically, Articles 50 and 52 of Additional Protocol I to that Convention are sufficiently explicit in this regard. Additionally, the importance of protecting universities and academics has been emphasized by nations in the 2015 Safe Schools Declaration.

 

Numerous criminal cases regarding war crimes have also emphasized the necessity of protecting civilian persons and places during war; the cases of Prosecutor v. Stanislav Galić and Prosecutor v. Pavle Strugar within the framework of crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia are examples of such cases.

 

As managers of the institution of science in Iran, we draw the attention of our colleagues throughout the world to these crimes. If these crimes are not condemned here and now, they will lie in wait for the academic environments of other countries.”

A view of debris following an Israeli and U.S. strike on Gandhi Hotel Hospital, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)