Iranian Agency Publishes Photo of 119 Children Killed in School Strike

The Tasnim news agency has released a composite photograph showing the faces of 119 schoolchildren killed in a strike on an educational institution in the Iranian city of Minab. The image, published on Saturday, March 7, was captioned "All the martyred students of Minab school in one frame."

According to Iranian authorities, the attack on the Shajare Tayyeb girls' school on February 28 resulted in at least 171 student fatalities. Tasnim reported that at least 14 teachers and staff members also perished. Iran has blamed the United States and Israel for the strike, which occurred amid broader attacks on targets within Iran.

"The responsibility for investigation lies with the forces that carried out the attack," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, calling for an immediate and impartial probe into the incident.

Funerals for 168 of the students were held on Tuesday, March 3, in Hormozgan province. Thousands of mourners filled the streets of Minab to bid farewell to the schoolgirls. The procession saw participants dressed in black, carrying coffins and beating their chests in grief as funeral flags waved.

An analysis by The New York Times, based on satellite imagery, suggested the strike on the school might have been part of a U.S. Air Force operation targeting a nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base.

Kazakhstan's Minister of Education, Zhuldyz Suleimenova, expressed profound sorrow over the deaths. "I received the tragic news of the death of 160 schoolgirls in Iran with deep grief," she stated on her official Facebook page. "The death of children, who in peacetime should be studying and taking steps into the future, is an irreparable loss for humanity."