US Defense Secretary Evasive on Deadly Strike at Iranian Girls' School
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered few details and was notably evasive when pressed about a deadly airstrike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, stating only that the United States is 'investigating' the incident. Iranian officials have asserted that the attack, which occurred on Saturday, resulted in the deaths of at least 165 students, with many more injured.
Details of the Attack and International Response
The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school was struck during the initial wave of US and Israeli attacks on Iran. In addition to the fatalities, Iranian state media reported that 96 others were wounded, predominantly students attending classes at the time. On Tuesday, the United Nations human rights office issued a call for 'the forces behind a deadly attack on a girls' school in Iran' to conduct a thorough investigation and provide transparent information, though it refrained from specifying responsibility.
Iran's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, had previously raised the matter with UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk in a letter dated March 1, condemning the attack as 'unjustifiable' and 'criminal'. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed alarm in a statement, highlighting reports of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, which have injured and traumatised children and claimed numerous young lives. The committee emphasized that children must be protected from the horrors of war.
US Statements and Broader Conflict Context
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, stated on Monday that US forces 'would not deliberately target a school'. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, thousands of mourners gathered in the streets of Minab in southern Iran for the funeral of those killed in the airstrike, with poignant scenes of a woman throwing rose petals on the coffins, many of which held children.
The conflict has escalated rapidly, with more than 800 people killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel launched their opening attacks on Iran, which included the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has responded with waves of retaliatory attacks against several countries in the region. The US military has claimed that the number of strikes carried out on Saturday in the first 24 hours of the war on Iran was nearly double that of the 'shock-and-awe' strikes on Iraq in 2003, with nearly 2,000 targets hit so far in Iran.
This incident underscores the severe humanitarian impact of the ongoing conflict, raising urgent questions about civilian protection and accountability in wartime operations.
