A public Iranian university; faculty have conducted research relevant to nuclear weapons, missiles, and drones.

In collaboration with scientists from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Islamic Azad University (IAU), and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Toosi University of Technology (KNTU), faculty has studied propulsion systems for UAVs using proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and turbine-less jet engines; in 2019, faculty reportedly collaborated with the Iran Space Research Center (ISRC) on 37 projects, including a project researching propulsion; in 2005, faculty and students conducted research on aerospace launch vehicle control in cooperation with a scientist from KNTU.

Has been a customer of Ervin Danesh Aryan Company and Neka Novin Company; in 2012, allegedly employed Mohammed Saeed Ajily to procure software in violation of Western sanctions on Iran; intended recipient of a mass spectrometer, the procurement of which was denied on April 25, 2002, by a member state of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

In 2010, faculty member Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an expert on centrifuge design and construction involved in Iran's uranium enrichment program, was assassinated; in 2007, reportedly hosted an academic exchange for Syrian students from the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST), an entity allegedly involved in the use, proliferation, or production of chemical weapons or related prohibited substances in Syria; faculty has conducted research on the long-term health effects of mustard gas.

Involved in Iran's nuclear program in the late 1960s and early 1970s; in 1968, began construction of a 5-megawatt research reactor with the assistance of the United States and established the Atomic Center of Tehran University, which was renamed Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC) in 1974 after the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) took over management.

Officials include Seyed Mohammad Moghimi (president); former officials include Ali Pazirandeh (professor of physics), who, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), worked with the Special Industries Group (SIG).

Operates nine campuses in Iran with 160 educational departments as well as Iran's largest science and technology park; main campus in Tehran hosts nine colleges, 48 faculties, and more than 60 research centers and 550 laboratories; oversees a department of aerospace engineering and an institute of biochemistry and biophysics; has more than 2,000 academic staff and 50,000 students.

Established in 1934; in 1992, faculties of dentistry, medicine, and pharmacology separated to form Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).