Thousands gather in Minab for a mass funeral, chanting against the United States and Israel after the school attack.
Published March 3, 2026
Iran held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 schoolchildren and staff killed Saturday in what Iran described as a US-Israeli attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.
The Israeli military has stated that it was not aware of any Israeli or American attacks in that area. Throughout its genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has denied multiple deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians, only to backtrack when incontrovertible evidence emerged and then call those attacks “accidental.”
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Iranian state television showed thousands of people filling a public square in Minab on Tuesday. The men waved the flag of the Islamic Republic while standing apart from the women dressed in black chadors.
From the stage, a woman who said she was “Athena’s” mother held a printed image of portraits she called “a document of American crimes.” And he added: “They died in the way of God.”
The crowd erupted in chants of “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “No surrender.”
The attack took place on Saturday after the United States and Israel announced joint strikes against Iran, marking the deadliest incident in the war against Tehran so far, targeting civilians.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday accused the United States and Israel of killing the girls.
“These are graves being dug for over 160 innocent girls who died in the US-Israeli bombing of an elementary school. Their bodies were torn apart,” Araghchi wrote on X, alongside an image of freshly dug graves.
“This is what Mr. Trump’s promised ‘rescue’ actually looks like. From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood.”
Authorities in Tehran have called for international action and solidarity after several hospitals and schools were hit by US and Israeli airstrikes against the country as Iran continues to fire missiles and drones across the region.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that the two countries “continue to indiscriminately attack residential areas, without sparing hospitals, schools, Red Crescent facilities or cultural monuments.”
The United States denies knowledge of the attack
The incident has been condemned by the United Nations culture and education agency, UNESCO, and by Nobel Peace Prize-winning education activist Malala Yousafzai.
Deliberately attacking an educational institution, hospital or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.
“The War Department would be investigating whether that was our attack, and would refer their question to them,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident.
“The United States would not deliberately attack a school,” he said.
Over the weekend, US Central Command told media it was “investigating” reports of “civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations.”
Rosemary DiCarlo, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacebuilding, said Monday that she was aware of reports from Iran of deaths from the reported attack and noted that U.S. officials had said they were investigating the reports.
