Iran seeks to expand student exchanges with Russia

Iran is seeking to expand student exchanges with Russia and is prepared to host more Russian students, a senior university official said, highlighting efforts to deepen academic ties between the two countries.

Abbas Saeidi, vice-rector of Shahid Beheshti University, told TASS that Tehran supports broader cooperation with Moscow across multiple sectors, including education.

“We support the expansion of relations with Russia in all areas, and we would welcome an increase in the number of students from Russia. We also advocate expanding student exchanges between the two countries,” Saeidi said. He added that two Russian students are currently enrolled in master’s programs at the university.

University rector Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri said the institution has approximately 22,000 students, making it Iran’s second-largest university. The university operates three campuses, 19 faculties and 10 research institutes, including one specialising in nuclear physics.

Aghamiri noted that five university professors — nuclear physicists, including alumni of Russia’s MEPhI and Lomonosov Moscow State University — were killed in Israeli strikes in June 2025. He added that one university building was destroyed in a missile strike in March 2026.

“The United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons and want to slow down any technological progress of Iran. Our country’s nuclear technologies today are entirely domestically developed. The late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei always noted that Iran does not seek to create nuclear weapons. But if we wanted to, no one would dare to stop us,” Aghamiri said.

He also thanked Russian and other foreign journalists for travelling to Tehran to cover the funeral ceremony of Ali Khamenei.

By Tamilla Hasanova