Iran held funerals on Tuesday for people killed in an alleged strike on a school in the southern city of Minab, an incident Tehran says was carried out by the United States and Israel but which both countries deny.
Iranian officials say more than 150 people were killed in the explosion, which they say occurred on Saturday, the first day of the current conflict, making it one of the deadliest reported civilian incidents so far.
Neither Washington nor Israel has confirmed carrying out the strike. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the Pentagon was investigating the incident.
The building is located near two sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Shahid Absalan clinic, which operates under the IRGC navy’s medical command, lies about 238 metres from the site, while the Seyed al-Shohada IRGC cultural complex is roughly 286 metres away, AFP reported.
Minab lies close to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes for oil and gas.
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UN calls probe
The UN human rights office on Tuesday urged those responsible for a deadly attack on a girls’ school in Iran to investigate the incident and share their findings, without specifying who it believed carried out the strike.
“The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
“This is absolutely horrific,” Shamdasani said.
Iran state media on school deaths
Iranian state television identified the building as the Shajare Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school. State media said funerals were held on Tuesday for at least 165 people, including students, who were killed in the alleged strike.
Images broadcast on state television showed large crowds mourning in Minab, with bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Other photographs released by state media showed coffins draped in the Iranian flag, some bearing pictures of children.
Additional footage shared by state media showed crowds gathered around rows of caskets, accompanied by a Persian caption describing the ceremony as prayers for the “children of Minab who perished”.
Another aerial image appeared to show excavators digging dozens of graves at what looked like a mass burial site. AFP could not independently verify when the images were taken or confirm the circumstances surrounding them.
US on death in Iran school
Rubio said the United States would not deliberately strike a school.
“The United States would not intentionally target a school. Our objectives are missiles — both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them,” he told reporters, adding that the Pentagon was reviewing the alleged incident.
Israel’s military also said it had no knowledge of any US or Israeli strike on a school in Minab.
“At this point we are not aware of an Israeli or American strike there,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said Sunday, adding that Israeli operations were being carried out with precision.
Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said it was investigating the identities of the victims. The organisation said the Shajare Tayyebeh school was reportedly holding a morning session at the time of the explosion, with around 170 students present.
The group added that the intended targets may have been nearby IRGC facilities — a claim that AFP said it could not independently verify.