Missile Strikes Shajarat Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Killing 168 Students

Early Saturday morning, the ninth of Esfand, a missile struck Shajarat Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Hormozgan Province, killing dozens of students and damaging part of the school building and six other buildings in the IRGC’s organizational compound, including a Shahid Absalan Clinic affiliated with the IRGC.

“Author: Roja Asdi Role: BBC Persian fact-checker Published in Reading time: 10 minutes Early Saturday morning, the ninth of Esfand, only about four hours had passed since the start of the US and Israel air raids on Iran when a missile struck Shajarat Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Hormozgan Province, killing dozens of students”

BBC

BBC Persian fact-checking found that, according to official figures, 168 people were killed and 96 injured, with most of the dead being students aged between 7 and 12 years, and several teachers and parents also killed in the attack.

BBC

The BBC Persian fact-checking section said Iran says the attack was carried out by the United States and Israel, while the two countries have not yet claimed responsibility, and the Pentagon told BBC Persian Fact-check it was examining the incident.

The BBC Persian fact-checking section reported that shortly after Iran announced that all schools in the country were closed, the attack on the school occurred at around 10:45 a.m., and a Minab resident said school officials were informing parents to come and take their children from the school when the missile struck.

Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, called the United States' claim that Iran attacked the Minab school ridiculous, saying, "these girls were seated in their classrooms and were suddenly killed by the U.S. military."

In the same PBS interview text published on the government’s official news portal, Araghchi said, "Last June we negotiated with them, and they attacked us in the middle of the negotiations," and argued that dialogue with the United States would not return to Iran’s agenda.

CNN

Araghchi also said the consequences of the attacks were extensive, adding that tankers and ships fear passing through the Strait of Hormuz, while he said Iran had not closed the Strait or blocked the passage of ships.

The BBC Persian fact-checking section said the U.S. military still says it is reviewing after seven days, and that Marco Rubio told a BBC reporter the United States "never deliberately attacks a school and has no motive for doing so."

IRNA published a photo of the plane that carried Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during his visit to the city of Saint Petersburg, showing the flight "Minab 168," a tribute to the children of Minab School who were killed in the American-Israeli attack.

“IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, published a photo of the plane that carried Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during his visit to the city of Saint Petersburg, showing the flight 'Minab 168,' a tribute to the children of Minab School who were killed in the American-Israeli attack”

Al-Tilfaziyun Al-Arabi

The Al Araghchi itinerary described by the sources included a trip to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, where a negotiating delegation led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf carried a set of school bags belonging to students at a school in Minab that had been subjected to the American-Israeli bombing, and the flight was also named "Minab 168," referring to the number of victims.

The sources said Araghchi arrived in Russia at the final stop of a diplomatic tour that included Pakistan and Oman, with mediators hoping to revive peace talks between Tehran and Washington, and that he is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The BBC Persian fact-checking section said the complex has been named the Sayyid al-Shuhada Cultural Complex and that Shajarat Tayyebeh School is located in the northeast part of that complex, while it also said it was not exactly clear what other cultural centers exist in this complex besides the school and the medical center.