Agencies | Srinagar: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday accused the United States and Israel of carrying out a “deliberate and intentional” strike on an elementary school in Tehran’s Minab, terming it a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Addressing an urgent session of the UN Human Rights Council, Araghchi said more than 175 students and teachers were “slaughtered in cold blood” in what he described as a “calculated, phased assault.” He called for “unequivocal condemnation” from the international community and demanded accountability for those responsible.
Rejecting any suggestion of an accidental strike, Araghchi argued that the advanced precision capabilities of US and Israeli forces made such an error implausible. “No one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional,” he told the council, adding that attempts to justify the incident would not absolve responsibility.
The strike occurred on February 28, the same day the United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks across Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes by Tehran on Israel and Gulf nations. However, preliminary US military findings, cited in media reports, suggested that a Tomahawk missile may have struck the school due to outdated targeting coordinates linked to a nearby Iranian military facility.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the incident as a “visceral horror” and called for a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation, with findings to be made public.
Adding a human dimension to the tragedy, Mohaddeseh Falahat, a grieving mother who lost two children in the attack, addressed the council via video, urging the international community not to forget the victims. “No mother is prepared to hear the words: ‘Your child is not coming back,’” she said.
The debate, requested by Iran along with China and Cuba, marked the second urgent session of the 47-member council this week on the escalating Middle East conflict. While the council had earlier condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Gulf nations and called for reparations, no resolution was adopted during Friday’s session.
