Iran Marks Minab School Victims as Students Return to Classrooms

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei commemorated the children killed in the February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab as more than 16.5 million Iranian students returned to classrooms for the start of the new academic year.

Marking the first day of Mehr, when schools traditionally reopen across Iran, Baghaei shared photographs of the victims on X, saying the children should have been returning to school to celebrate the beginning of another academic year.

“Today is the first day of Mehr, the day Iranian schools reopen: and these are the innocent faces of the children of Minab,” Baghaei wrote, referring to those killed in what he described as a US missile strike.

“They should have been here today, bright-eyed and joyful, celebrating the start of a new school year. Instead their slain bodies lie buried in the earth,” he added.

Baghaei directly accused Washington of responsibility for the deaths and criticized governments and officials he said had remained silent over the attack.

“The government whose president mockingly flouts international law from the UN podium bears responsibility for this unforgivable war crime,” he wrote.

“All who stood silent and looked away share in that responsibility,” the Iranian spokesperson added, concluding that the Iranian people “will never forget these angelic faces” and “will never forgive their killers.”

The comments came a day after US President Donald Trump addressed the UN General Assembly, where he defended Washington’s military actions and warned that Iran could face further force if Tehran failed to reach an agreement with the United States.

Baghaei’s remarks also followed a report by a UN fact-finding mission, which said it had reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for the Minab school strike and concluded that the attack amounted to a war crime under international law.

The new academic year began as Iranian students returned to in-person classes following months of disruption linked to the war that began on February 28.