Iran's renowned Sharif University of Technology in Tehran was targeted by an Israeli-US strike in the early hours of Monday, hitting and damaging its data centre, as well as the compound’s mosque and laboratories, state media reported.
The data centre supports Iran’s artificial intelligence platform as well as other digital services.
Israel said it would be attacking alleged military infrastructure within Iranian academic institutions, claiming they are used by the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The university is among Iran’s most prestigious, and is considered to be the country’s answer to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said in a post on the X platform that Sharif University of Technology was attacked by a "bunker-buster bomb," which reflects "the madness and ignorance of US President Donald Trump".
No casualties have been reported.
University President Masoud Tajrishi, in a video message from the scene of the attack, said: "This morning, the enemy attacked one of the university's buildings, which unfortunately resulted in damage to the structure."
He added that "Sharif University is a scientific institution whose mission is to disseminate culture and advance science, but it has suffered damage as a result of what he described as the brutality of this country's enemies."
He stated that Iranian forces "will provide the necessary response on the ground" to this attack, noting that reconstruction work will take place within the university, and that the country will continue its scientific research "to demonstrate to future generations a global scientific power."
The attack has also been condemned by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi , who vowed that "the aggressors will witness our might," in a post on X.
Yassamin Ansari, a US House of Representatives member from Arizona, also criticised the incident.
Ansari, who is Iranian-American, said on X: "Sharif University is Iran’s MIT. They’ve produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies.
Why are we bombing a university in a city of 10 million people?"
The university was founded in 1966 during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, under the name Aryamehr University of Technology, before it was renamed to its current name, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Among the university's alumni are Maryam Mirzakhani , a prominent mathematician and professor who became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal - the most prestigious in mathematics - in 2014.
Notable graduates are former footballer Ali Daei, the Iranian national team’s former captain and all-time top scorer, as well as Ali Larijani, the former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Council. Larijani was killed on 17 March in a US-Israeli strike. Healthcare services crippled amid war Numerous Iranian healthcare services have also sustained significant damage amid the ongoing US and Israeli assault on the country, crippling services needed to treat those wounded by attacks.
At least 216 health centres, 54 emergency medical centres, and 46 medical units have been damaged, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. Eight hospitals in the capital, Tehran, have also been evacuated, while 41 ambulances have also been damaged.
The Iranian Health Ministry says that 2,076 people have been killed by US and Israeli strikes since the start of the war on 28 February, although Iranian human rights groups based abroad have given higher death tolls.
From Sunday to Monday, over 34 people were killed in US-Israeli strikes across the country. The ministry said among the injured from strikes were 4,721 women, 1,917 children under the age of 18, and 68 children under the age of two. The ministry further reported that 32,533 injured individuals received medical care and were discharged from hospitals, while 480 patients remain hospitalised. Approximately 1,200 surgical procedures have been performed on those wounded.
Many of Iran’s healthcare workers have been killed and sustained injuries amid the war. At least 117 have been wounded since late February while performing duties, while at least 24 have been killed.