IRGC calls US, Israeli universities in West Asia ‘legitimate targets’ after Iran strikes

Tehran: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday issued a stern warning that American and Israeli universities in the West Asian region could be considered legitimate targets in retaliation for the US and Israeli strikes on Iranian academic institutions and heritage infrastructure.

In a statement broadcast by Iranian state media Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Telegram, the IRGC condemned recent attacks on Iranian universities, including what it described as a bombardment of the University of Science and Technology in Tehran, and accused US-Israeli forces of targeting Iranian educational infrastructure. “The American-Zionist aggressor forces have targeted Iranian universities for the umpteenth time by bombing the Tehran University of Science and Technology,” the statement read, as quoted by IRIB.

The statement warned that all universities affiliated with the United States and Israel in West Asia are “legitimate targets” unless specific conditions are met.

The IRGC also urged staff, faculty, students and residents near American and Israeli university campuses in the region to stay at least one kilometre away to protect their safety and also demanded that the US government officially condemn the bombing of Iranian universities by noon on Monday, March 30 (Tehran time), if it wants those institutions to be spared from retaliation.

“The reckless rulers of the White House should know that all the universities of the occupying regime and American universities in the West Asian region are our legitimate targets, so the destruction of two universities in retaliation for the destroyed Iranian universities. We advise all staff, faculty, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas to stay within a one-kilometer radius of the aforementioned universities to protect their lives,” it added, as quoted by IRIB. (ANI)

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