Minab School Bombing: How the Worst Mass Casualty Event of the Iran War Unfolded: Shared by Tom McDermott

In addition to the tragic toll of deaths and serious injuries, what is deeply upsetting is the manner in which both the US and Israeli militaries denied their involvement, then slowly came to say, they were "looking into the incident." Then followed a barrage of misinformation on social media claiming that footage of the school was old footage shot in Pakistan, and then that the school had been struck by a misfired IRGC missile. Tom

Minab School Bombing

Tess McClure and Deepa Parent

The Guardian | March 3, 2026 

  Click here for the article 

Summary

The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, a small agricultural town in Iran's southern Hormozgan Province, was struck during the morning session of Saturday, February 28, between 10am and 10:45am local time, as US and Israeli bombs began falling across Iran. Up to 168 people were killed and 95 injuredl.

Human rights organization Hengaw reported that the school's morning session typically included 170 children aged 7 to 12. A local official told AP that casualties included students, parents, and school staff, and the school's headteacher was among the dead. In some families, more than one child was killed. The local morgue was overwhelmed; refrigerated vehicles were reportedly used to store victims' bodies. 

The school sits adjacent to an IRGC naval medical and cultural complex, but the school building and playground are walled off from the compound, and there is no indication the school served any military function. Its enrollment included many children from the broader community, particularly families who could not afford private school fees or faced overcrowding in public schools. 

 Iranian authorities issued orders to close schools shortly after strikes began at 9:40am, but teachers' union representative Shiva Amelirad told The Guardian that the time between the closure announcement and the explosion was very short, leaving families unable to reach their children in time. 

On March 3, Iran held a mass funeral for the victims in Minab, with thousands of mourners filling a public square. 

Quotes: "These are the schoolbooks of the children who are under these ruins, under this rubble here. You can see the blood of these children on these books. These are civilians, who are not in the military. This was a school and they came to study."

 "Because its tuition was lower than many other private schools, and due to the high overcrowding in public schools, ordinary families had been compelled to enrol their children there."