Iran's Pezeshkian urges global health bodies to act after US-Israeli strike on Pasteur Institute
"As a specialist physician, I urge WHO, the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and physicians worldwide to respond to this crime against humanity," Pezeshkian says.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on international health organisations and doctors worldwide to respond to what he described as a "crime against humanity" following attacks on medical facilities in Iran.
"What message does attacking hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the Pasteur Institute (of Iran) as a medical research center in Iran convey?" Pezeshkian said on X on Thursday, referring to strikes that reportedly hit the Pasteur Institute of Iran in Tehran.
"As a specialist physician, I urge WHO, the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and physicians worldwide to respond to this crime against humanity," he added.
Iranian authorities said earlier that air strikes had damaged the Pasteur Institute, a key medical research centre, warning that the attack poses risks to public health and international medical cooperation.
'Utterly outrageous'
In a separate statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the strike as "heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous."
"The American-Israeli aggressors have attacked the Pasteur Institute of Iran — the oldest and most prestigious research and public health center in Iran and the entire Middle East, founded in 1920 through an agreement between the Pasteur Institute of Paris and the Iranian government," Baghaei said on X.
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, killing more than 1,340 people to date, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.