On February 28, 2026, the first day of the Israel-USA attack on Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, was struck by a missile during morning classes while approximately 170 students were inside the building. The impact reduced the school to rubble, trapping many children beneath collapsed concrete structures. Local residents reportedly began rescue efforts immediately, digging through debris with their bare hands as parents searched the ruins calling out their children’s names.

According to the public prosecutor’s office in Minab, at least 108 people were killed, many of them schoolgirls between seven and twelve years old. A spokesperson for the Iranian Red Crescent Society later confirmed a final death toll of 108 schoolgirls, representing more than half of the students enrolled at the school. Dozens of victims were initially reported missing following the strike.

Videos circulating on social media and described as showing the immediate aftermath depict smoke rising from burned walls, debris scattered across nearby roads, and large crowds gathered at the scene in visible distress, with screams audible in the background. The Guardian reported that the footage and casualty figures could not immediately be independently verified. However, the Persian fact-checking organization Factnameh cross-referenced the video with known photographs of the school site and concluded that the footage was authentic, while Reuters also verified that the video originated from the school location.

Responsibility for the strike remains unclear. A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that authorities were “looking into” the reports. The school is reported to be located adjacent to a Revolutionary Guards barracks, a factor that has raised questions regarding possible targeting considerations.

Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, described the bombing on X as “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far, adding: “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.” Speaking to Drop Site, Shariatmadar stated: “I cannot understand how a place where innocent children learn can be bombed like this. We are talking about small children who knew nothing of politics or wars. And yet they are the ones paying the highest price.”

The strike would constitute the largest mass-casualty event of the U.S.-led attack to date and the deadliest attack on a school by bomboing or shelling in the XXe and XXIe centuries.

Geolocation : next to Resalat Boulevard, Minab, #Iran 27.109834, 57.084748

The school appears to be adjacent (600m) to a Revolutionary Guards barracks. This proximity is used in the pro-Isreaeli propaganda to explained the airstrikes.

On March 1, The Guardian reports that the Israeli-Us "strike on girls’ elementary school in south of Iran has killed 148 people and injured 95 others, according to Iran state media"

Statement of Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesperson for US Central Command: The US was “aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them.”

Official Responses:

US and Israeli officials said they were unaware a school had been hit event if investigation evidence disputes these claims.

**Nobel Peace Prize Malala Yousafzai statement: **

“They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future. Today, their lives were brutally cut short. Justice and accountability must follow. All states and parties must uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools.”

On March 3, 2026, State media showed hundreds packing the streets of the southern city of Minab to mourn scores ⁠of girls killed in the bombing of a girls' school on the war's first day, by far the worst of several reported attacks to hit civilian targets. The girls' small coffins, draped with Iranian flags, were passed from a truck and borne by the crowd across a sea of upraised hands towards the grave site.

The U.N. human rights office demanded an investigation into the strike, which its spokesperson called "absolutely horrific".

Legal & Human Rights Assessment:

Human rights monitors called the bombing a possible serious violation of international humanitarian law. Children and teachers are legally classified as protected persons in armed conflict.

Investigation piece of Al Jazeera:

Key Investigation Findings : Satellite imagery and video analysis show the school was directly struck, not damaged accidentally and two separate missile impacts were identified: one on a nearby military base, another one on the school itself. This contradicts claims that damage came from debris or secondary explosions.

The school had been physically separated from the adjacent military complex since 2016. It had an independent walls, several civilian entrances, playgrounds and school facilities. It functioned as a civilian primary school for at least 10 years. Under international humanitarian law, it therefore remained a protected civilian site, even though many students were children of military personnel.

Some pro-Israeli accounts claimed the site was part of an IRGC military base, but critical contradiction highlighted that the missiles hit the military base, and the school, but avoided a civilian clinic located between them that opened in 2025. This suggests attackers had accurate, updated targeting information, raising questions about Serious intelligence failure, or deliberate targeting of the school.

The attackers’ ability to spare newly established adjacent facilities (such as the Martyr Absalan clinic) and their glaring failure to avoid an elementary school operating at full capacity and packed with 170 girls leaves us with two scenarios, So, the evidence leaves two possible explanations, both unequivocally condemnatory: Either US and Israeli forces relied, in striking the vicinity of the Asif Brigade, on a very old, outdated intelligence target bank (dating to before 2013), which would constitute grave negligence and reckless disregard for civilian lives; or the strike was carried out deliberately and with prior knowledge to inflict maximum societal shock and undermine popular support for Iran’s military establishment.

Even if this school operated as an educational institution serving families (including military families), legal classification remained civilian.

At least, reverse-image searches disproved claims that destruction came from a failed Iranian missile, the viral images was traced to a different city (Zanjan).

Investigation by Nilo Tabrizy, (author and investigative journalist who has worked extensively with open-source material to report on Iran for The Washington Post and The New York Times)

About who carried out the strike. "Weapon fragments or visuals showing the exact moment of impact can often provide clues as to the type of munition used, thus revealing the country responsible. Without them, the question remains open. Information wars over this strike began quickly. Some accounts, aligned with the camp that supports the restoration of Iran’s monarchy and installing the son of the last shah, Reza Pahlavi, began confidently asserting that it was a failed rocket launch by the IRGC from the nearby base. This narrative began spreading alongside an image that posters claimed was the missile launch. This was quickly debunked by Ali Noorani on X, who confirmed that this image was actually from the town of Zanjan, roughly 800 miles away from Minab. In addition, the image that was central to the failed missile claim showed snowcapped mountains, which would not be visible in the southern town of Minab. The following day, on March 1, more pro-Pahlavi accounts then claimed that the IRGC had confessed to mistakenly bombing the school. The claim was made through a screenshot that people online said came from official Iranian state channels. But this too was debunked, this time by Jasper Nathaniel, who confirmed that the dubious assertion was posted on a Telegram channel supportive of the monarchy. A source told me that this tragic airstrike was perhaps an error on the part of the U.S. and Israel. The school is located right next to an IRGC navy base, but it’s hard to miss the brightly colored walls of the school that were visible on Google Earth as far back as eight years ago."

Weapon used:

The area was targeted by several missiles, with at least eight buildings or locations impacted. One of the videos released on March 8 shows a Tomahawk missile—a weapon used only by the United States in this conflict—striking the site after the school had already been bombed. This provides an indication of who may have been responsible for targeting the school, suggesting the strike could have been carried out by the United States rather than Israel.

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