On 28 February 2026, the first day of the 2026 Iran war, the Shajareh Tayyebeh[a]girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province in southern Iran was destroyed by a missile strike.[5] According to witnesses, the school was triple tapped by three distinct strikes.[5] The roof of the school collapsed on students. According to Iranian media, 168–180 people were killed, most of whom were schoolchildren.[6][7][8][9] As of 5 March 2026, the attack was the deadliest strike in terms of civilian casualties in the ongoing war.[10][11][1]
Investigations conducted by The New York Times,CBC, NPR, and BBC Verify, among others, concluded that the United States was likely responsible for the strike. Sources involved with the United States military's internal investigation of the strike similarly told Reuters that the strike was likely perpetrated by the United States, though the U.S. investigation's final conclusion had not yet been reached.[12] The attack was condemned by the Iranian government, UNESCO, and other international human rights organizations and activists as a violation of international humanitarian law.
Beginning in late December 2025, massive nationwide anti-government protests erupted in Iran, driven largely by economic crisis, the collapse of the rial, and rising prices. The protests, which included calls for regime change, became the largest in scale since the 1979 revolution.[13] The Iranian government responded with massacres of protesters, with the deadliest incidents occurring on 8 and 10 January 2026.[14] In February 2026, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed that Washington engineered a dollar shortage in Iran to send the Iranian rial into freefall and cause protests in Iran.[15][16][17] The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated the death toll at 7,000, the Iranian government said it was 3,117, while Donald Trump and various Iranian health officials said it was 32,000 people.[18][19]
On 2 January 2026, Trump threatened a "lock and loaded" military intervention in Iran if the government decided to kill peaceful protesters.[20] On 13 January, he expressed support for Iranian anti-government protesters and pledged that "help is on the way" for them,[21] and later, on 23 January, amidst negotiations between Iran and the US mediated by Oman, Trump announced that a US "armada" was heading to the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USSAbraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers.[22][23] On 13 February, Trump ordered the aircraft carrier USSGerald R. Ford and its supporting warships to sail to the Middle East.[24]
According to locals, the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab was a former military facility converted into an all-girls elementary school.[26] At the time of the airstrikes, the school was located close to[b] the Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex which includes the headquarters of the Asif Brigade of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.[28] According to satellite imagery, the building in which the school was housed was initially walled within the IRGC compound in 2013 but was then walled off by September 2016.[10]Al Jazeera English stated that the school that "had been separated from the military complex and had become a clearly defined civilian institution for more than 10 years".[28]
The Guardian determined there was no indication it served a military purpose and found that the compound buildings adjacent to the school were a medical clinic and a pharmacy,[11] the former of which was walled off from the compound between 2022 and 2023.[3] An investigation by the CBC found the school was struck as part of "a precision airstrike on a military complex immediately adjacent to the building". The CBC report stated that the school building "was once part of" the IRGC base that was supposedly being targeted.[2] According to Minab's mayor and a mother of one the school's students, the school facility was built on an IRGC base which had been closed around 15 years ago with all military personnel moved at the time and the school being the only operational facility at the former base.[5]
Events
The school after the attack
According to Iranian state media, amid the 28 February airstrikes across Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh school was struck by a missile.[29] 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.[30][11] The impact instantaneously killed dozens inside.[11] Human rights organization Hengaw stated that around 170 students were present in the school at the time while the Iranian Ministry of Education said that 264 students were present,[30][5] among them mostly girls between seven and 12 years old.[31] Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations representative, Shiva Amelirad, said the school had decided to close soon after the airstrikes began, however parents were not able to reach the school before the airstrike landed on the compound.[26]
The school was struck at some time between 10:00 and 10:45a.m.[11][32] as classes were changing periods in the school. The impact affected over half of the structure, destroying the walls of the building and causing its roof to collapse, burying people underneath;[30][31] graphic footage shows some bodies partly trapped.[11] The explosion destroyed at least half of the two-story school building.[10]
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.[33][34] 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.[34] The parent corroborates this story, relating he received a call from the school informing him of the first strike, which his daughter had survived; but before he could arrive, the school was hit again, and she was killed.[34] According to Minab's mayor and the Iranian Ministry of Education, the school was triple-tapped, being struck three times in total.[5]
On 1 March, BBC Persian and other agencies published accounts of a clinic struck in the same location, which the former characterized as "what appeared to be a second attack on the same location" and the latter as a "follow-up attack", with the latter citing local officials.[35][36]The New York Times corroborated that smoke was billowing from two buildings;[10] footage shows smoke coming out of the school's windows, whose muraled walls were adorned with paintings of crayons, children, and an apple.[37] Experts confirmed that there were other nearby strike points as well.[3]
Death toll
The body of a girl trapped under the rubble
Iranian authorities reported that at least 168 people were killed and about 95 were injured in the strike.[6][7][8][5][1][38] A majority of those reportedly killed were schoolchildren,[7][8][9] but included teachers.[26] Many of the victims were schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12, some of whom were trapped under the rubble. According to a local official, among the dead, in addition to the children, were the students' parents and school staff.[39][31][11] The state-affiliated Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported that the school principal was killed in the strike.[11]
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.[40] Videos taken of the destroyed school immediately following the attack were verified by The New York Times,[30]The Washington Post,[41]Reuters, and Iranian fact-checking organization Factnameh, as authentic; these videos were compared against existing imagery of the school.[29]Drop Site News published accounts of the incident from several parents whose children were among those killed.[39]
Emergency and volunteer response
People search through rubble after the school airstrike, via Mehr News
As reports emerged that the school had been hit, many panicked locals, including family members of victims, rushed to the scene while security forces attempted to push families back, fearing the area would be targeted again, and sealed off the building.[39] Soon after, recovery efforts began—some informal—as civilians and Iranian Red Crescent Society emergency workers searched through the debris.[10] Although initially using just their hands,[39] rescue services used construction cranes and shovels to save people trapped by rubble,[30] while black smoke scorching the remaining walls continued to pour from the building's windows.[26][42] Footage reveals items including severed arms,[10] bodies, and school bags being recovered.[42][43] One video shows a man, previously digging through the rubble, waving dust-covered textbooks and worksheets; in a quote translated by The Guardian, he yelled:[11]
"These are the schoolbooks of the children who are under these ruins, under this rubble here," he shouts. "You can see the blood of these children on these books. These are civilians, who are not in the military. This was a school and they came to study."[11]
Corpses were collected in body bags and injured victims taken away in ambulances.[10] Later in the day of the airstrike, bodies of the victims were transferred to their relatives gathering at a nearby designated collection area.[39] The attack flooded Minab's morgues, however, forcing some of the bodies of victims to be held in refrigerated trucks.[26] The search for victims ended on 1 March.[10]
On 1 March, authorities announced the end of search operations for survivors.[44] 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. Minab's public prosecutor office reported later that day, through the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, that 150 "innocent school girls" were killed, with some still trapped under the rubble.[26] The judicial head of Hormozgan stated that 140 of the deceased had been identified up to that point, while efforts continued to identify another 25 people, and that the remains of the bombs used in the attack had been located, seized, and transferred for analysis in preparation for an investigation.[45]
Mass funeral
The funeral and mass burial of victims of the attack, both attended by thousands of mourners
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".[46][47] Images show excavators preparing a hundred or more graves at a mass burial site, which was subsequently filled with the mourners which held a procession bringing the caskets of victims to the site.[37][5]
Misinformation
Following the attack, Israeli and Iranian pro-Monarchist opposition pages began disseminating information that the airstrike was a failed IRGC interception. These claims originated from associated Telegram channels and were debunked.[48][28]The New York Times noted that "a single errant missile wouldn't have caused such precise and targeted damage to several buildings across the naval base".[1] It was also falsely claimed on the social media website X that the IRGC had admitted to mistakenly destroying the school in a missile airstrike, despite the fact that no such statement admitting responsibility had been made by the Iranian state.[49] Other social media accounts claimed the footage was supposedly old footage shot in Pakistan, which has been debunked.[11]
Reactions
Domestic
Seyed Abbas Araghchi
(@araghchi)
tweeted:
The destroyed building is a primary school for girls in the south of Iran. It was bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils.
Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone.
These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered.
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."[51] The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran called the airstrike a "blatant crime", adding that "the world must stand up to this great injustice", including "the UN Security Council [which] must act now in line with its primary responsibility under the Charter."[52] Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the "crimes against the Iranian people will not go unanswered."[39] The spokesperson for Iran's 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.[29]
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".[10]
International
United States
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said on 1 March that "we are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them. The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm."[10][30] On 4 March, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said the US Department of Defense and The Pentagon were investigating whether the airstrike was fired by the US and added that the US "would not deliberately target a school".[46][47][37] The same day, US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, evaded questions on the matter and provided few details other than to echo Rubio in saying that the US was "investigating" the incident and would "never target civilian targets".[47] On 7 March, Donald Trump stated, without evidence, that he believes the strike was "done by Iran", stating, "We think it was done by Iran, because they're very inaccurate with their munitions, they have no accuracy whatsoever, it was done by Iran".[54][55]
Israel
Israel said it was investigating the incident.[53]Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Lieutenant colonel Nadav Shoshani, said Israel did not know who was responsible for the airstrike and said the IDF was not aware of any IDF operation within the region.[56]
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, in an interview with the Russian TV Rain channel, said that "This is a war and in war there are always victims among the population. Obviously it is terrible when children suffer, children should not die when adults fight. The difference between the Iranian regime and the US and Israel is that we did it by mistake, and they do it on purpose as was the case in Beit Shemesh. Nobody has killed more Iranians than the Iranian regime, and now they are complaining that an attack, by mistake, killed these poor people. We are all so sorry that these young women and children were killed. It is terrible, it should not have happened. These are the tragic and terrible mistakes that sometimes happen in war. We wish it had not happened, but this is the reality."[57]
When questioned whether he was implying that the US military or the IDF attacked the school, he replied "Let it be clear and sharp, I have never taken responsibility on behalf of Israel for the attack on the girls' school in Iran. On the contrary, I have sharply attacked in the international media the hypocrisy of those who remained silent when the Iranian regime killed 30,000 of its people and suddenly have something to say about every tragic mistake that could happen in the war. I suggest everyone follow the international propaganda operation that we opened and fight for Israel all over the world."[57]
Intergovernmental organizations
In a statement, UNESCO condemned the airstrike, calling it "a grave violation of humanitarian law".[51] United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the airstrike.[58] 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, omitting its belief of the party responsible, said "the forces behind a deadly attack on a girls' school in Iran" to investigate the airstrike and report its findings.[53] Its high commissioner, Türk, called for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation.[37]
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.[28] The Norway-based human rights group, Hengaw, said it was seeking the names of victims of the attack, adding that "the establishment and expansion of military facilities in close proximity to schools and public spaces place civilians at heightened risk."[37]
UNICEF called on all parties in the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians, noting the death of children in the strike.[59]
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni condemned the attack, labelling it a 'massacre'.[60][61]
Analysis
Targeting process and precision
According to investigations by the CBC and NPR, the area where the school is located was the target of multiple precision strikes, with multiple craters and plumes of smoke present, while the school, as well as the surrounding complex, fall under the area of operations of the US military, with verified US airstrikes having taken place nearby. Both investigations suggested that the strike was likely the result of a failure in intelligence gathering.[2][3] An investigation by The New York Times also concluded that the school was likely hit by a US precision strike.[1]
Experts speaking to NPR corroborated the airstrike's precision. Researchers at Oregon State University's Conflict Ecology Laboratory, Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, noted that the detonation centroids were "pretty clean". Satellite imagery specialist Jeffrey Lewis agreed that the airstrikes were precision airstrikes but added that the strike being an error was more likely. According to Lewis, the US was more likely than Israel to be responsible for the strike based on Minab's location.[3]
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 that the impact on the school demonstrates that it was either a weapons system failure or a serious CENTCOM intelligence gathering error and added that the US primarily targeted military bases and missile launchers in southern and central Iran, while Israel has focused 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."[2]
An 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".[28] The Al Jazeera investigation also linked the attack and subsequent misinformation to similar attacks targeting civilian facilities by the US and Israel, such as the Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing (1970), Amiriyah shelter bombing (1991), Qana massacre (1996) and Kunduz hospital airstrike (2015) and Israeli attacks on schools during the Gaza war (since 2023).[28]
Investigations by Bellingcat and BBC Verify geolocated footage released by Mehr News, showing a cruise missile identified by both as an American Tomahawk missile striking the area near Minab school shortly after the school was hit. The United States is the only participant in the conflict to use that missile, with professor of global security Jeffrey Lewis saying the missile in the footage did not match any known weapons possessed by Iran. The footage confirmed that the United States had struck targets in the vicinity of the school, with Bellingcat adding that the footage directly contradicted Trump's claim that an Iranian missile hit the school.[62][63][64] Eight munitions experts also confirmed to The Washington Post that the missile was a Tomahawk.[65]
United States military investigation
On 5 March, Reuters reported that two American military personnel involved in an internal investigation believed the attack was likely perpetrated by the United States, although a final conclusion had not yet been reached. The US and Israel had divided their strikes geographically, with the US responsible for striking targets in southern Iran where the school was located. Independent analysis of satellite imagery suggested that the school and the Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex had been struck near-simultaneously by air-delivered munitions.[12]
Legality
Shannon Bosch, an associate professor of law at Edith Cowan University, analyzed the strike from the perspective of international humanitarian law (IHL). Without drawing firm conclusions, Bosch noted that schools and children under 18 are especially protected under IHL, concluding that "the legality of that strike turns on whether the expected harm to children and the school was excessive compared to the military advantage gained by striking the target."[42]
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".[1]
UN human rights experts characterized the strike as a potential war crime under the Rome Statute.[66]
↑Variously described as "about 600m [660 yd] from the base",[27] "within less than 100 yards [91 m] of the perimeter of [the base]",[3] "adjacent to [the base]"[10]
12Kekatos, Mary (5 March 2026). "At least 186 students, teachers allegedly killed in Iran as organizations call for investigation". ABC News. A total of 186 students and teachers have been killed in Iran and 114 have been injured since U.S.-Israeli attacks began over the weekend, the Iranian education ministry said in a statement. About 20 education centers have been either damaged or fully destroyed, according to the ministry. Of those killed, 168 were from the Shajare Tayyiba Elementary School, an all-girls elementary school in Minab -- located in southern Iran -- which was hit by airstrikes, according to Iranian officials.
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