Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities, AFP reports.

“If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation… it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.

The statement added: “We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” stay a kilometre away from campuses.

Several US universities have campuses scattered throughout the Gulf region, such as Texas A&M University in Qatar and New York University in the United Arab Emirates.

Strikes overnight Friday to Saturday hit Tehran, including a university of science and technology in the northeast of the capital, damaging buildings but not causing any casualties, according to media reports.