Eyewitnesses say that girls aged between seven and twelve were seen dead in various parts of the school.
At least 85 people, almost all of them girls, were killed in an airstrike on an elementary school in southern Iran, the Iranian judiciary said.
The Saturday morning attack hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the city of Minab, Hormozgan province, on the same day that the United States and Israel began launching attacks on targets across Iran.
According to Iranian news agencies Tasnim and Fars, the victims were between seven and twelve years old.
A Minab school employee, who asked not to be named, told Middle East Eye she remains in shock at the intensity of the attack.
Through tears, she said she used to watch the girls playing at school every day. After today’s strikes, however, she saw their bodies lying on classroom desks and in different corners of the school.
She said she had left school to run something when, suddenly, she heard a horrible sound. Within seconds, a missile — or something similar — hit the school building.
After hearing the explosion, she ran back to school and came across a scene that, according to her, she will never forget.
“I felt like I had become mute. I couldn’t speak,” the employee told MEE. “You could hear the children crying and screaming.”
When rescuers arrived, she said, they began to understand the scale of the disaster.
“We still don’t know how many people are under the rubble. Some even say more than 100. Some of these young children are seriously injured. Their parents came to school, and this place has turned into a house of mourning.”
The air raid on the school left many people trapped under the rubble of the building.
There were 170 students at the school at the time of the attack. So far, at least 45 people have also been injured.
Images released by Telegram accounts affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps appeared to show people digging through the rubble.
It was possible to see smoke coming from the surrounding buildings, screams and laments could be heard; other people appeared to be in shock.
Iranians sift through rubble at destroyed school in Minab | Telegram
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the attack and said the children’s deaths “will not go unanswered.”
“The destroyed building is a primary school for girls in southern Iran. It was bombed in broad daylight when it was full of female students,” he wrote.
“Dozens of innocent children were murdered in this location alone.”
Attacks across the country
US and Israeli attacks on Iran have also hit Tehran in a big way. Explosions echoed across the capital as Iranians left for work, before quickly spreading across the country.
Attacks were reported in several cities, including the holy city of Qom, as well as Karaj, Isfahan and Kermanshah.
The total death toll has not yet been released, but Reuters reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been transferred to a “secure location”.
US President Donald Trump said the joint strikes were aimed at “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”.
“Not long ago, the US military began a major combat operation in Iran. Our goal is to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime,” he said.
Trump also made a series of other statements and predictions without presenting any concrete evidence, such as Washington’s refusal to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“We will annihilate their navy. We will ensure that the ‘terrorist’ groups in the region can no longer destabilize the region or the world.”
“We will make sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple message.”
Originally published by Middle East Eye on 02/28/2026
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2026/02/28/ataque-dos-eua-e-de-israel-ao-ira-85-meninas-mortas-em-ataque-a-escola/
