Iranian academics urge UN to condemn US-Israeli attacks on higher education

Academics from within Iran and abroad have urged the United Nations to condemn US-Israeli aggression against the country’s higher education institutions.

In a letter titled “Urgent Protection of Academic Institutions in Iran and the Region” released on Tuesday, the signatories addressed UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany, and UN Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights, Alexander Xantaki.

The letter requested UN intervention following recent US-Israeli attacks on universities and higher education centers in Iran.

“The recent strikes on some of Iran’s main campuses in Tehran, Isfahan, and Urmia are deeply alarming to us as members of the academic community,” the letter stated.

It urged the UN to address global public opinion and issue an immediate public appeal to the involved parties to de-escalate this specific threat against academic infrastructure in Iran.

Separately, in a joint statement released on Monday, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, Ali Simayi Sarraf, and Minister of Health and Medical Education, Mohammad-Reza Zafar-Qandi, condemned US-Israeli aggression on Iranian universities.

The ministers called on the international community to recognize the severity of the attacks.

“As administrators of scientific institutions in Iran, we draw the attention of our colleagues worldwide to these crimes. If these atrocities are not condemned here and now, similar threats will loom over academic environments in other countries,” they said.

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