2026 Minab school attack

Minab elementary school The Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in southern Minab was attended by both boys and girls, taught on separate floors. As of early 2026, the school had existed as a civilian institution more than 10 years, close to but separate from the IRGCN compound. The school also had what Reuters described as a "vivid website and yearslong online presence." Start of the 2026 Iran war On 28February 2026, the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran. The airstrikes, which began at around 10:00 a.m. IST, coincided with the time at which Iranians usually send their children to school, as Saturday is a working day in Iran. For planning Operation Epic Fury, the US military utilized the Maven Smart System, an artificial intelligence software designed to streamline the targeting process and greatly reduce the amount of personnel involved in it. Capable of producing 1,000 target packages in one hour, with the use of the system the US military said it had struck 6,000 targets in Iran during the first two weeks of the war. == Events ==

On 28 February 2026, between 10:23 and 10:45a.m., Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations representative, Shiva Amelirad, said the school had decided to close soon after the attack on the country began, at approximately 10:00 a.m., even prior to the nationwide announcement closing schools at 10:15 a.m. Due to congestion and distance, many parents were not able to reach the school before the airstrike landed on the compound. The school's principal, teachers, and other staff had remained inside to help escort the children out. graphic footage shows some bodies partly trapped. Footage taken on the school's brightly painted soccer and volleyball pitches shows smoke coming out of the school's windows, whose muraled walls were adorned with paintings of crayons, children, and an apple. According to testimony given to the Middle East Eye by two Red Crescent medics and a victim's parent, the initial strike to the school was followed by a second, "double tap" strike. One of the medics recounted that, following the first strike, the school's principal moved a group of students to a prayer room and called parents, asking them to come pick up their children; that area was then hit by a second strike, killing most that had taken shelter. it was one of five damaged sites whose roofs were punctured by munitions before the munitions' subsequent detonation. The clinic had been inaugurated in January 2025 by then IRGC commander-in-chief, Major General Hossein Salami. The New York Times corroborated that smoke was billowing from two buildings. == Death toll ==

156 people were killed in the strike; the victims included 120 students (73 boys and 47 girls), 26 teachers (all of whom were women), seven parents of students (four men and three women), a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician from a nearby clinic, and a six-month-old fetus. Fatalities raised after recovery efforts on 4 March. The day prior, Mizan News Agency claimed to have confirmed 66 boys, 54 girls, 26 teachers, and four parents had died. Teachers were also killed, including the school's principal. According to a local official, the fatalities included multiple parents who had come to pick up their children. == Aftermath ==

Immediate official statements in Iran included the Iranian government stating the missile was a US-Israeli airstrike, whereas Vice Governor of Hormozgan Ahmad Nafisi said the school was struck amidst US-Israeli air raids on Minab. Videos taken of the destroyed school immediately following the attack were verified by The New York Times, Reuters, and Iranian fact-checking organization Factnameh, as authentic; these videos were compared against existing imagery of the school. Footage reveals items including severed arms, Other imagery confirmed that areas struck within the school were used for schooling. The attack flooded Minab's morgues, however, forcing some of the bodies of victims to be held in refrigerated trucks. The same day, Shiva Amelirad, representing the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, told TIME magazine that 108 or more children had been killed in the attack, according to sources within Minab she was in contact with. Mass funeral On 3 March, Iran held a mass funeral for the children killed in the airstrike in a public square in Minab, attended by thousands of mourners. Those in attendance held imagery of the attack and phrases condemning what one victim's mother called "a document of American crimes". Images show excavators preparing a hundred or more graves at a mass burial site at Minab Hermud cemetery, whose grounds were subsequently filled with the mourners which held a procession bringing the caskets of victims to the site. On 11 March, the New York Times reported that the preliminary findings of the investigation determined that the US was responsible for the strike. The inquiry suggested that the school was likely targeted due to outdated coordinates provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. In response to the attention to the New York Times article, on 13 March, US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth promised a thorough probe into the strike, in what the Washington Post described as a tacit acknowledgement of US responsibility for the attack. The US military also said it elevated the investigation. Three US officials told Reuters that the administrative probe was known internally as a "15-6," which could be used as basis for disciplinary action. UN Investigation A UN investigation was initiated on 17 March and is ongoing. == Reactions ==

Domestic • President Masoud Pezeshkian said that "the American and Zionist aggression against Minab Elementary School will never be erased from the historical memory of our nation." • Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the "crimes against the Iranian people will not go unanswered." • The spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Hossein Kermanpour, called the report of the attack "the most bitter news" so far, adding that there may be even more bodies under the rubble. which Türk heeded. • The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Pirhossein Kolivand, said the "unique and bitter incident" had "no comparison with any other incident" even outside of Iran, as he said no singular attack killed so many students simultaneously, "even in Gaza". Following The New York Times' reporting on the preliminary findings of the Pentagon probe, Senators Brian Schatz, Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine, and Elizabeth Warren led 46 mostly Democratic senators (including themselves) to demand Trump answer for the school strike, particularly probing on matters of responsibility, compliance with international law, the establishment of a "no-strike list," the use of artificial intelligence, and mitigation of civilian harm given the high volume of strikes the first day of the Iran war. The only Democratic senator to abstain from the letter was John Fetterman, who has supported Trump and Israel, including having blocked a resolution to halt Trump's war powers a week prior; No Republican senator was signatory to the letter. Some legislators also made individual statements condemning the attack. Israel It was publicly reported on 4 March that Israel had begun investigating the incident. Intergovernmental organizations • The first UN agency to condemn the airstrike was UNESCO, which called it "a grave violation of humanitarian law" the day of the attack. • On 4 March, a panel of 18 independent experts on the UN Committee on ‌the ⁠Rights of the Child said it was "alarmed" by news of the strike and said children must be protected from war. The UN human rights office, avoiding attribution of blame, said "the forces behind a deadly attack on a girls' school in Iran" must investigate the airstrike and report its findings. Human rights activists and organizations The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor described the attack as a "horrific crime and a consolidation of the collapse of civilian protection", and said that any attack on "protected persons" such as children and teaching staff constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law. HRW said, however, that if any buildings within the adjacent base were used for military purposes, the school would have been placed "at unnecessary risk" by Iranian authorities, in violation of the laws of war. On 13 March, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun offered condolences to victims before pledging to donate US$200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to the Iranian Red Cross through its own Red Cross Society, serving as further "condolences and compensation" to the injured persons and families of victims. In the regular press briefing, Guo added that the attack "constitute[d] an even graver violation of international humanitarian law and cross[ed] the bottom line of human conscience and morality," before adding that China "stands ready to continue providing necessary assistance to Iran in a humanitarian spirit to support the Iranian people through this difficult time." The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand condemned the attack on the Minab school. == Misinformation ==

Following the attack, Israeli and Iranian pro-monarchist opposition pages began disseminating disinformation that the airstrike was a failed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) interception. These claims, originating from associated Telegram channels, were debunked by news organizations, Other social media accounts claimed the footage was supposedly older footage shot in Pakistan, which has been debunked. U.S. president Trump claimed, without providing evidence, that Iran possessed Tomahawk missiles, and suggested that Iranian Tomahawk missiles may have been responsible for the attack on the school. However, PBS fact checkers rated Trump's claim as false, noting that the U.S. is the only party in the conflict, known to possess Tomahawk missiles. They also cited video evidence released by U.S. Central Command, showing that the U.S. Navy had launched several Tomahawks on 28 Feb, the same day the school was struck. A preliminary investigation by the US military further contradicted Trump's assertions, concluding that the attack was likely the result of a U.S. airstrike attacking the elementary school. == Analysis ==

Targeting process and precision An initial Al Jazeera English investigation into the airstrike concluded that the attack was either based on "outdated intelligence" from before 2013, and would thus "constitute grave negligence", or that the attack was intentional and done "to inflict maximum societal shock and undermine popular support for Iran's military establishment". Furthermore, these AI tools are able to "evaluate a strike after it is initiated." An investigation by The New York Times also concluded that the school was likely hit by a US precision strike. firing a Tomahawk missile as part of Operation Epic Fury on 28 February The CBC and NPR investigation also found that the school and surrounding complex fell under the area of operations of the US military, with verified US airstrikes having taken place nearby. The missile being a Tomahawk was confirmed by eight other munition experts, Sam Lair of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, U.S. Air Force Special Operations targeting expert Wes Bryant, Amnesty, among others. Furthermore, the US was the only participant in the conflict to use the Tomahawk missile, with Lewis saying the missile in the footage did not match any known weapons possessed by Iran. Bellingcat, among other sources, added that the footage having confirmed the US' striking of areas within the vicinity of the school contradicted Trump's claim that an Iranian missile hit the school. A CBC investigation concluded that the school was bombed as part of a precision airstrike against the military complex adjacent to the targeted building and that it was not a mistake. It said the impact on the school demonstrated that it was either a weapons system failure or a serious CENTCOM intelligence gathering error, adding that the US primarily targeted military bases and missile launchers in southern and central Iran. Israel, on the other hand, was focusing its operations in the north saying that "Minab's location in the south, near the Strait of Hormuz, places it within the US military's primary area of operations and lines up with other US strikes on the Bandar Abbas Naval Base, about 80 kilometres west of Minab, and facilities in Konarak, which is 400 kilometres to the southeast." A satellite data link antenna was recovered from the site which was imprinted with the name of Colorado-based manufacturer, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, owned by British arms-manufacturer BAE Systems. Further analysis of the debris connects it to a contract issued by the United States Naval Air Systems Command to contractor Raytheon on 24 September 2014 for the production of 231 Tomahawk Block IV missiles for $251,133,201. Regarding the attack, international humanitarian law expert Janina Dill said that attackers are required to "verify the status" of targets to avoid harming civilians. Beth Van Schaack said the US "should have known that a school was in the vicinity". Media coverage Polish journalist , writing for Gazeta Wyborcza, stated that in the week after the attack, the event was being mostly ignored by Western media. Following the attack, the Iranian Revayat-e Fath Institute created an AI-generated Lego-styled video of the Iranian military attacking neighboring countries and Israeli and American military outposts. The video was declared to be in remembrance of the victims of the Minab school attack, and it was redistributed by various government-run outlets and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. == See also ==