Friday, November 14th 2014

Austrian Delegation Visited Sanctioned Sharif University in Tehran

CEO of OeAD and Vice Rector of Leoben University undermine sanctions against Iranian regime

The coalition STOP THE BOMB criticizes the visit of a high-ranking Austrian university delegation to Iran. Hubert Dürrstein, CEO of the Austrian international mobility agency OeAD, and Peter Moser, Vice Rector of University of Leoben, were taking part in the delegation, which on Monday visited Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology (SUT) - a university sanctioned by the European Union for its role in the Iranian nuclear weapons program. According to media reports, possible cooperation with Austrian universities was discussed in the meeting.

Sharif University of Technology was added to the EU sanctions list already in 2012 and re-listed by the Council of the European Union last week on November 7th. According to the EU, Sharif University is assisting designated entities to violate the provisions of UN and EU sanctions and is providing support to Iran's proliferation sensitive nuclear activities. SUT has a number of cooperation agreements particularly in the field of ballistic missile production and procurement.

Stefan Schaden, spokesperson for STOP THE BOMB in Austria, stressed in a statement that any cooperation with the Iranian university system was questionable: "According to Amnesty International women were banned from a number of university degree courses or are facing discriminating quotas. Minorities and political dissidents are denied access to higher education. That is unlikely to be compatible with the goals of Austrian academic cooperation."