Esshan Kharat — March 17, 2026
On the first day of the U.S.-Israeli joint military operation on Iran, February 28, 2026, a missile struck a school in Minab, a city located near the war’s critical oil-transporting Strait of Hormuz in Iran. The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school was a two-story building housing girls aged 7 to 12. It was decimated during the strike, killing between 165 and 180 people, a majority of whom were children attending the school. It is currently the single deadliest event for civilians since the beginning of the now nearly 3-week war. The event has raised skepticism surrounding who was responsible for the events, a widespread international response, and implications if the war continues. The strike is the foremost demonstration of the human cost of the war in Iran.
The school was located near a naval compound of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The mayor of Minab, as well as other locals, have proclaimed that the military facility had been closed more than a decade prior. Additionally, accounts detail that all active-duty members of the IRGC were evacuated before the site was repurposed as a school. The school was physically separated by a wall from the former compound. Despite the location changes, U.S. Central Command targeting databases still classified the building as part of the active military site.
The strike occurred between 10 and 11 am local time, when the building was crowded with students. Many parents rushed to the school to collect their children after the first wave of airstrikes. The attack itself was not a one-off strike, but rather a double or triple-tap attack. This means that subsequent strikes hit civilians looking to rescue victims. Additionally, besides the initial impact damage, the school’s roof collapsed and trapped many inside the building.
Three days later, on March 3rd, a massive funeral service was held in Minab. Thousands of Iranians showed their solidarity and empathy for those killed in the strikes. Aerial imagery highlighted more than 100 graves being dug at Minab’s local cemetery following these strikes. Multiple victims’ names have spread across the internet, circulating internationally.
The United States, Israel and Iran all independently denied responsibility. President Trump blamed Iran when reports of the attack came out. He cited claims of Iran being “inaccurate with their munitions.” However, other members of the President’s cabinet, namely Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, refused to endorse President Trump’s assessment at the time. The United States’s partner, Israel, also rejected claims regarding responsibility for the strike. One Lieutenant Colonel said that Israel found no connection to the school strike. Iran also denied any claims that the strike was carried out of its own volition.
Despite concurrent denials from all three bodies, evidence supporting one nation’s involvement in the strike is growing: the United States. Independent news agencies like the New York Times and the BBC are using footage released by Iranian news agencies showing the strike to geolocate it. Munitions experts identified the missile as a UGM-109 Tomahawk missile. Only the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and the United States have access to this specific type of missile. Additional reports claim that the US Central Command’s outdated database guided the missile to strike the nonexistent IRGC compound, a likely occurrence given that more than 2,000 targets were struck within the first 100 hours. Furthermore, the Pentagon’s own preliminary investigation has determined that the U.S. was responsible for the attacks.
The attack on the girls’ school has been condemned all around the globe. International bodies like UNESCO have called the bombing “a grave violation of humanitarian law.” Furthermore, other human rights experts from the UN vehemently criticize the U.S.’s killing of innocent children. Other global bodies have expressed desires for the events to be properly investigated as a war crime. International law typically prohibits attacks where civilian casualties outweigh the expected military gain.
The President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian (who is notably not the highest power in the nation, a title that belongs to the Ayatollah), signified that the attack would not be forgotten. Moreover, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, threatened the U.S., expressing that the attacks would be responded to. Protests in solidarity have erupted internationally, including right outside the UN office in Tehran.
Figureheads from the U.S. government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have continually backed that the strikes were unequivocally unintentional. However, the attacks have led critics to question President Trump’s statements that Operation Epic Fury’s goal is to cause regime change within the nation.
The strike at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school has become a legal and ethical controversy worldwide. Given the present, believed U.S. goal of forcing regime change, continued civilian casualties could work to directly oppose this goal and rally support for the Iranian government from inside the nation instead.
Inside the United States, more than 120 House Democrats have begun demanding answers on current military targeting protocols and possible AI usage following these strikes. The war was stated to last 4-6 weeks by President Trump, but as of March 14, he has still stated that the terms of negotiation are “insufficient.” In the end, questions of Iran’s possible retaliation and whether the United States will face any repercussions remain.
Read more here:
