ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iranian military on Sunday warned that American and Israeli universities in the West Asia region could be considered “legitimate targets” for Iran, citing attacks on Iranian universities by “US-Israeli invaders.” The warning came hours after Tehran accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “deliberately” targeting universities and research centers to undermine Iran’s scientific and cultural heritage.
In a statement titled “Warning to the Criminal Rulers of the US,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused “the invading American‑Zionist forces” of targeting Iranian universities, adding that “the unwise rulers of the White House should know that, from now on, all universities of the occupier [Israeli] regime and American universities in the West Asia region will be legitimate targets for us.”
The statement further advised “all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region, as well as residents in surrounding areas, to stay at least one kilometer away from these universities to protect their lives.”
The IRGC concluded by urging the US administration to “condemn the bombing of universities in an official statement no later than 12:00 pm on Monday, March 30, Tehran time” and to “rein in the brutal actions of its allied forces against universities and research centers” to safeguard its universities in the region, warning that “otherwise, the threat remains in effect and will be carried out.”
The Iranian military’s threat came shortly after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated late Saturday that the Isfahan University of Technology (IUT) and the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) in Tehran “are just two among many universities and research centers deliberately attacked by the aggressors during the past 30 days of their illegal war on the Iranian nation.”
Baghaei further claimed that the “true objective” of the “American‑Israeli aggression against Iran” is to “cripple our country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists.”
The Iranian foreign ministry official added that “countering Iran's ‘nuclear program’ and ‘imminent threat’ were nothing but vicious pretexts - mere fabrications designed to conceal their real intention.”
The threat against American and Israeli universities in West Asia comes after the IRGC had on Friday stated that American and Israeli soldiers, “unable to defend their military bases,” were “taking shelter in civilian areas” and “using innocent civilians as human shields.”
The IRGC added that “since we are tasked with eliminating” these forces ‘wherever they are found, because they persist in killing Iranian civilians and carrying out assassinations of Iranian figures, we advise you [civilians] to immediately leave areas where American forces are present so that they are not harmed.”
The remarks followed a statement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday on X, in which he claimed that “US soldiers fled military bases in [Gulf Cooperation Council] GCC [states] to hide in hotels and offices,” and were “using GCC citizens as human shields.”
Earlier the same day, Abolfazl Shekarchi, senior spokesperson for the Iranian Armed Forces, told state media that when American forces relocate to a hotel, “from our perspective that hotel becomes American,” adding that “naturally, we have to strike wherever they are.”
The Iranian warnings of potential escalation against civilian sites come as media outlets close to the IRGC claimed on Thursday that Tehran has mobilized more than one million combatants for a potential ground confrontation with American forces.
For its part, the Washington Post on Sunday cited US officials as reporting that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks‑long ground operations in Iran as thousands of US troops and Marines continue arriving in the Middle East.