Iran Targets U.S. Universities in the Middle East

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned on Sunday that U.S. universities are “legitimate targets” after alleged U.S.-led attacks on Tehran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

“The reckless rulers of the White House should know that from now on, all universities of the occupying regime and American universities in the West Asia region are legitimate targets for us until two universities are struck in retaliation for the Iranian universities that have been destroyed,” the IRGC said.  

“All staff, professors, and students of American universities in the region, as well as residents in their surroundings, are advised to stay at least one kilometer away from these universities to ensure their safety.”

Education City in Qatar hosts campuses for six U.S. universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Virginia Commonwealth and Weill Cornell Medicine. New York University and Rochester Institute of Technology both have campuses in the United Arab Emirates. Several other national universities in the region have ties with American partners. 

The IRGC said the U.S. must officially condemn the bombing of Iranian universities by 12:00 pm Iran Standard Time Monday March 30 if it wants “its universities in the region to be spared.” The group warned that further attacks on Iranian universities and research centers would prompt more threats of retaliatory strikes on U.S. institutions in the Middle East.

On Sunday at 10:25 a.m., Georgetown University Qatar posted a message on its website saying remote work and online instruction would continue until further notice. 

Fadlo R. Khuri, the president of the American University of Beirut, which is chartered in New York and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, said on Sunday that all operations would be fully remote “out of an abundance of caution” on Monday and Tuesday.