Tragic Blast at Minab School Leaves Dozens Dead

The morning of a Saturday in southern Iran turned into a nightmare when a missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school. The blast happened while children were in class, between 10:00 and 10:45 a. m. , when U. S. and Israeli forces were conducting their first wave of attacks on the region. Images from the scene show a ruined building with shattered windows and torn curtains. The playground lies in disarray, with a broken slide and scattered chairs. Dust covers the remains of children's belongings—backpacks stained with blood and concrete, a pair of pink sandals, and a girl in a green dress wrapped in a black body bag. The footage also captures the grim sight of bodies partially buried under rubble and a small child’s severed arm being pulled out by rescuers. A local man, holding textbooks and worksheets, stood amid the wreckage and shouted that these were the books of innocent students who had died. He pointed out blood on the pages and emphasized that the victims were civilians, not soldiers. The attack is reported to have killed up to 168 people and injured 95, though independent verification remains limited due to internet restrictions in Iran.Investigators used satellite images and open‑source intelligence to confirm the school’s location. The building sits next to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) complex that includes a medical clinic and a cultural center. Despite its proximity, the school was separate from military facilities; it had its own playground and classroom walls, and many students came from ordinary families who could not afford private schools. The timing of the strike—early in the U. S. and Israeli campaign—suggests that the school was hit as part of a broader assault on the IRGC compound. U. S. officials said they were reviewing reports of civilian harm and denied that a school was deliberately targeted. Iranian authorities had ordered schools to close shortly before the attack, but parents were told that the warning came too late for them to act. The death toll overwhelmed local morgues, leading officials to use refrigerated trucks to store bodies. The loss of up to 168 young girls devastated the community, with some families losing multiple children. Human rights groups and UNESCO have condemned the attack as a grave violation of international law, calling for protection of schools worldwide.