The Pasteur Institute of Iran, a key medical research and vaccine production center in Tehran, was attacked on Thursday as part of a broader campaign targeting healthcare infrastructure in Iran by the United States and Israel. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon by training, condemned the strike, asking on X: "What message does attacking hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the Pasteur Institute as a medical research center in Iran convey?" He urged the World Health Organization (WHO), the Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders to respond, calling the attacks a "crime against humanity." The Pasteur Institute, established in 1920 through a partnership with the Paris-based Institut Pasteur, plays a central role in Iran's public health system, producing vaccines for diseases like measles, tetanus, and hepatitis B, and supporting national immunization efforts. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the attack as "heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous," though he did not confirm any casualties. According to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, two departments at the institute have been collaborating with the WHO, and the broader conflict has disrupted health services and endangered medical staff and patients. Since March 1, the WHO has verified over 20 attacks on healthcare facilities in Iran, resulting in at least nine deaths, including a health worker and a member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Other targeted sites include a Red Crescent warehouse in Bushehr province, destroyed by a drone strike, and Tofigh Daru Research and Engineering Company, a major pharmaceutical firm in Tehran that produces anticancer and cardiovascular drugs. The Delaram Sina Ps hospital was also hit, forcing staff to evacuate and suspend operations, though no casualties were confirmed. The WHO recorded a record number of attacks on healthcare during armed conflict in 2024, including the detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, by Israeli forces.
When President Pezeshkian, a trained heart surgeon, publicly questions the message behind bombing vaccine labs, it exposes the erosion of medical neutrality in modern warfare. Targeting a century-old institute that produces essential vaccines does not just harm Iran—it undermines global health infrastructure that has long operated beyond borders. If research centers and pharmaceutical plants are now legitimate military objectives, no country's public health system is truly safe. This marks a dangerous shift in conflict norms, with consequences far beyond the Middle East.
