Iran Minister Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri Announces Memorial Campaign for Minab School Strike Victims

Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri announced memorial initiatives for victims of the missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, saying the government plans to establish a national campaign to commemorate those martyred.

“Jake Tapper reports on The Lead”

CNN

Salehi-Amiri said the strike took place on Feb. 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, when the school’s roof collapsed, killing 156 civilians including 120 schoolchildren, and also including 26 female teachers, one of whom was six months pregnant, seven parents, a school bus driver and a technician at a nearby clinic.

CNN

In a separate U.S. investigation account, the Los Angeles Times said a missile strike on an Iranian elementary school in February killed an estimated 120 children after outdated U.S. intelligence misidentified the site as a naval facility, despite a 2019 warning it had become a school.

The Los Angeles Times also said the attack killed an estimated 120 children and nearly 200 people in all, describing it as the worst incident of civilian harm resulting from U.S. operations in decades.

During a congressional oversight hearing, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), dodged admitting responsibility for the attack on Minab Elementary School, saying the school sits inside an active IRGC cruise missile base and that this makes the investigation more complex.

Cooper pledged to share the investigation’s results when it is completed, and his remarks came in response to a question from Adam Smith, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, who said that in the past such mistakes were acknowledged quickly.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators found missed analyst remarks and unconnected databases that kept critical updates from commanders, raising questions about whether combat leaders followed vetting procedures meant to prevent civilian casualties.

In response to U.S. statements, the source says Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Bagheri described the targeting claims as baseless allegations and said targeting an operating educational institution during school hours constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a clear war crime.

Salehi-Amiri said one of the ministry’s first measures would be to establish a Museum of the Minab Victims at Tehran’s Saadabad Cultural-Historical Complex to preserve the memory of the incident, and he proposed upgrading the existing cultural committee into a National Headquarters for the Minab Victims.

“Iran minister announces memorial initiatives for Minab school attack victims TEHRAN - Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri, said on Sunday that the government plans to establish a national campaign to commemorate those martyred in the missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, including the creation of a museum, a permanent secretariat and a nationwide cultural initiative”

Tehran Times

He also announced plans to launch a national Minab mourning procession involving cultural and artistic groups, and said the ministry intends to produce short films and visual works for screening at Iranian diplomatic missions abroad.

The Tehran Times further said Salehi-Amiri announced that Iran would continue legal and international efforts to document and condemn the attack and seek compensation from the United States, which he described as the hostile state responsible for the strike.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Pentagon’s still-unreleased investigation has uncovered missed analyst remarks and that the results of the probe have not been publicly released, while a Pentagon official said the incident remains under investigation and that the agency has no updates to provide.