Iran is a totalitarian society and boasts of it. All institutions are subordinated to the regime. This also applies to universities, healthcare and research. The United States and its allies have bombed universities and the Pasteur Institute. This is presented as a war crime by the regime. But it might perhaps be appropriate to make room for Iranian voices who say that there is no academic independence in Iran and that, as with Hamas, weapons research is placed under institutions with a civilian façade.
The same applies to casualty figures. The regime is naturally interested in inflating the numbers and classifying as many as possible as civilians.
If the media run Gaza 2.0, they will reveal that they have learned nothing and that they are the regime’s willing mouthpieces.
Trump said that the United States would bomb Iran back to the Stone Age on Wednesday, and NTB refers to this statement when listing attacks on the Pasteur Institute, a pharmaceutical factory and a psychiatric hospital.
Trump added that it is the regime that belongs in the Stone Age, not the Iranian people. It is the regime that has treated the people as if they belonged in the Stone Age. But that distinction will not be seen or mentioned by the media.
New attack on healthcare in Iran
The more than 100-year-old Pasteur Institute in Tehran has been hit in an attack, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.
The long-established medical research centre, which was established in cooperation with the French Pasteur Institute in 1920, has, according to the ministry, sustained extensive damage in the attack, but no deaths or injuries have been reported.
The Iranian Ministry of Health describes the institute as “a cornerstone of global health and a member of the international Pasteur network”.
A spokesperson for the ministry has posted images on X showing that parts of the institute lie in ruins.
Civilian targetsThe attack comes only hours after President Donald Trump, in a televised address, said that the United States will bomb Iran back to the Stone Age.
The United States and Israel have also earlier in the war attacked a number of civilian targets, including hospitals, universities and schools.
Pharmaceutical factoryOn Tuesday, a major pharmaceutical factory was hit in an attack.
– After a month of war crimes, the Tofigh Daru Research & Engineering Company was struck today, wrote Iran’s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on X.
Zarif posted an image showing a destroyed and burnt-out floor of the building.
– The desperate attackers – who have failed to realise their devilish delusions – have now deliberately attacked a producer of medicines, including cancer medication, he wrote.
Psychiatric hospitalEarlier in the week, a newly opened psychiatric hospital in Tehran sustained significant damage in an attack, reported the state news agency IRNA.
Around 30 patients were present at Delaram Sina Hospital during the attack, but no loss of life has been reported.
– Doors and windows were shattered, and the walls of the building were also damaged, the hospital director told IRNA.
AmbulancesAccording to Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health, at least 190 hospitals and other healthcare institutions have been hit in American and Israeli attacks since 28 February, reports CNN.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 17 of their centres and nearly 100 ambulances have been damaged or destroyed in the attacks.
– These are not just vehicles. They are often the only hope people have when the bombs fall, says IFRC’s head of delegation in Iran, Maria Martinez, to CNN.