“The current damaged site will be preserved as a war museum at the university to remain a document of the country’s scientific oppression in history,” said Zafarollah Kalantari, head of Isfahan University of Technology, yesterday.

He added that other land had been allocated for the “construction of a new building and provision of advanced equipment” for the university, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Kalanari said initial assessments had put the cost of the damage to the university’s buildings and facilities at around US$11 million.

US-Israeli strikes hit the institution in Isfahan – among the largest universities in Iran – in March during the war that began a month earlier and subsequently spread across the region.

Officials have said that strikes hit more than 30 universities across Iran, including in the capital Tehran, as well as residential areas and other civilian infrastructure.

A ceasefire has been in place since April 8.