Tehran: A deadly airstrike on a primary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab has left at least 165 children dead, according to Iranian authorities, in what has been described as one of the most devastating incidents in the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel.
The attack reportedly targeted the school while young students were attending classes. Iranian officials said the children killed had no connection to the conflict and described the strike as a unilateral assault. The incident has drawn widespread condemnation within Iran, with officials saying the scale of the tragedy has shocked the global conscience.
Images emerging in the aftermath have intensified public grief. A photograph shared on X by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shows long rows of newly dug graves on barren land, prepared with the assistance of earthmoving machinery. The burial site, with more than a hundred small graves lined up side by side, has been widely circulated online and is being viewed as a stark reminder of the human cost of the conflict.
These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school. Their bodies were torn to shreds.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 2, 2026
This is how "rescue" promised by Mr. Trump looks in reality.
From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood. pic.twitter.com/cRdJ3BELOn
In a separate post, Iran’s mission in India described the burial ground as “small graves for little angels” and said the elementary school students of Minab were now “together in heaven, side by side.”
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that 96 people were also injured in the strike, though it noted that the casualty figures have not been fully confirmed. Videos from the scene show school bags and belongings being retrieved from beneath collapsed concrete slabs, underscoring the scale of destruction at the site.