Iran pursues national and international legal action over U.S. strike on Minab school that killed 156 people, including 120 children
Iran is pursuing legal action at both the national and international levels over the February 28 U.S. strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, which local authorities say killed 156 people, including 120 schoolchildren and 26 female teachers. Deputy Justice Minister Askar Jalalian said the Presidential Legal Affairs Office is advancing judicial proceedings, while Tehran is also seeking to raise international awareness and preserve the attack in Iran’s national historical record.
Jalalian, speaking during a visit to the school in southern Hormozgan province, said national resources were being mobilized to pursue the victims’ rights. He added that Iran’s Human Rights Headquarters had been asked to use its international capacity to draw greater attention to the case, while plans are also underway to register the site nationally, issue a commemorative stamp and include the attack in school textbooks.
Minab’s prosecutor has put the final death toll at 156, including 120 students — 73 boys and 47 girls — and 26 teachers, all of them women. Seven parents, a school bus driver and a pharmacy technician from a nearby clinic were also among those killed.
The February 28 attack has also drawn scrutiny from U.N. human rights experts. In formal communications sent to the United States and Israel in July, U.N. special rapporteurs raised concerns over the bombing of the Minab school and said the reported attacks raised serious questions under international humanitarian and human rights law, including obligations to protect civilians, schools and medical facilities and to investigate civilian casualties.
The school was struck on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran. Amnesty International later concluded that the U.S. strike was unlawful and called for those responsible to be held accountable, while reporting that the U.S. military had acknowledged carrying out the attack and opened an investigation into how the school was hit.
