Airstrike on Sharif University Highlights Targeting of Academic and Tech Infrastructure in Iran-US Conflict
April 8, 2026
A joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike has destroyed a key high-performance computing (HPC) data center at Iran's Sharif University of Technology, underscoring the deliberate targeting of scientific and technological infrastructure amid ongoing hostilities. The attack on April 6 severely damaged the university's primary data center, laboratories, and other educational facilities in Tehran, just days before a fragile temporary ceasefire was brokered.
The destroyed HPC center was a critical research hub for Iran's academic community. Operating since 2018, the facility, according to university documents, was equipped with 2,500 processing cores, 90 GPUs, 15 terabytes of main memory, and 560 terabytes of storage space. It served more than 3,000 registered researchers not only from Sharif University but also from institutions in Shiraz, Yazd, Tabriz, and elsewhere, supporting advanced studies in fields like artificial intelligence, nanomaterials, and computational chemistry.
Masoud Tajrishi, president of the university, told state media that the facility was known for its AI and computer science research. "The main reason the enemy targeted this sensitive infrastructure was that they did not want us to gain access to this technology," he said. The loss is particularly significant for Iran, which has long operated under sanctions limiting access to cutting-edge semiconductors, making the domestically managed HPC cluster a vital asset.
The incident is part of a broader pattern of attacks on civilian academic infrastructure. Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf claimed over the weekend that more than 30 Iranian universities have been directly hit since the war began in late February, resulting in the deaths of five professors and over 60 students. Such attacks on civilian infrastructure are generally prohibited under international law.
This strike follows a series of retaliatory attacks on data centers by both sides, including previous U.S.-Israeli bombings of Iranian data centers and Iranian attacks on cloud facilities operated by AWS, Oracle, and SES. The university's website remains offline following the attack, though Alireza Zarei, head of the IT Center, has reportedly continued teaching from a surviving room.
Source: datacenterdynamics
US-Israeli Airstrike Destroys High-Performance Computing Center at Iran's Premier Tech University
