Iran's Top University Says US-Israel Attack Targets Nation's Progress, AI Learning

Iran's Top University Bombing Sparks Fears Over US-Israel's Intentions

The head of Iran's top science and engineering university believes that the United States and Israel are targeting symbols of Iran's progress as a nation, and not merely hitting the governing establishment.

The Sharif University of Technology in Tehran was bombed on Monday, destroying and damaging multiple buildings, including what was described by the authorities as an artificial intelligence centre housing critical databases.

University President Masoud Tajrishi said, 'We believe the reason the enemy targeted these buildings and destroyed the entire infrastructure is that it did not want us to achieve AI technology.'

Tajrishi added that the higher education facility had been working on training AI models in Persian for two years and provided services to hundreds of companies.

The US and Israel have not provided an official reason for targeting Iran's main higher education hubs or cultural heritage sites, which are considered civilian infrastructure.

No casualties were reported inside Sharif since all school and university classes are being taken online, but more than 2,000 people have been killed during the war.

The strike on the top university came after a string of similar air raids targeting research centres inside other prominent facilities.

More than 30 universities have been affected by US and Israeli attacks since the start of the war on February 28, Iran's minister of science, research and technology, Hossein Simaei Saraf, told Al Jazeera last week.

The attacks prompted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to declare US and Israeli-affiliated universities 'legitimate targets.'

Iran's President Masoud Tajrishi said, 'The enemy does not want us to succeed or have development and progress, but all our universities are united now by these attacks.'

Tajrishi also stated that no country had been prepared to provide Iran with the knowledge and know-how to work on AI technology due to US sanctions and competitive advantages, so all of the research was done domestically.

US President Donald Trump said 'a whole civilisation will die tonight' in Iran, with the comment coming days after the country's steel factories and petrochemical manufacturers were extensively targeted.

Trump boasted that it would take 20 years for Iran to rebuild if Washington were to withdraw today, but it could take 100 years to rebuild if the war continues.

A mathematics professor held an online class inside the remains of a bombed building as a show of defiance and continuity.

Placards placed nearby by the authorities read, 'Trump's help has arrived.'

However, the increasing systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure has caused deep concerns among many Iranians, especially since the country was already dealing with a host of issues before the war, including economic woes and an energy crisis.

A Shahid Beheshti student said, 'It was a strange feeling waking up in the morning and seeing your university attacked, not to mention the terror of feeling you might not have electricity to check anything tomorrow.'