US, Israel Bomb 30 Iran Universities, Threaten More
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- Iran's universities have seen at least 30 impacted by US and Israeli strikes since the war began February 28, with Shahid Beheshti University's Laser and Plasma Research Institute bombed Friday — no casualties because the government had moved all classes online.
- Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, the theoretical physicist and nuclear scientist assassinated in the opening salvo of Israel's June 12-day war, had directed a magneto-photonics lab at Shahid Beheshti University, now struck in the current campaign.
- The Pasteur Institute in downtown Tehran — founded over 100 years ago to produce vaccines and work on infectious diseases — sustained damage the WHO confirmed rendered it "unable to continue delivering health services," though no one was killed.
- WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 20 attacks have targeted Iranian healthcare facilities since early March, including the Delaram Sina Psychiatric Hospital, which was hit on Sunday.
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed his military has "destroyed 70 percent of Iran's steel production capacity" after putting two top manufacturers, including the Middle East's largest, out of commission with multiple rounds of strikes.
- President Trump posted video of the B1 bridge near Tehran collapsing after strikes killed at least 8 and wounded more than 90 during Sizdah Bedar, a Nature Day holiday, then gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on electricity generation plants — and separately threatened water desalination plants.
- Over 100 US legal experts condemned the strikes as raising "serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law" and flagged "the risk of atrocities across the region," while Iranian authorities say more than 2,000 people have been killed.
Why it matters: Strikes have hit 30 universities, a 100-year-old vaccine institute, a pharmaceutical company, and a bridge full of holiday families — over 2,000 Iranians killed per government figures. Trump's 48-hour Strait of Hormuz deadline escalates to electricity and water systems next, as over 100 US legal experts flag potential violations of international humanitarian law.
