Attack on a school in Minab has raised new questions about civilian casualties in the war in Iran
The attack on the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in the city of Minab in southern Iran has become one of the deadliest individual incidents for civilians since the beginning of the current escalation between Iran, the United States, and Israel. According to the Iranian authorities, 168 people were killed in the strike carried out on Saturday, February 28, 2026, most of them schoolgirls, but also part of the teaching and school staff. At the same time, international sources continue to warn that the exact number of victims has not been independently confirmed, although multiple verifications of videos, photographs, and satellite images confirm that the school complex was indeed heavily hit during a broader wave of attacks on the south of the country.
Minab is located in Hormozgan Province, in a strategically sensitive area not far from the Strait of Hormuz. Precisely because of this position, the city and its surroundings have military significance, and according to analyses by international media and weapons experts, there is also a facility linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the immediate vicinity of the school. This circumstance has become the central point of the debate over whether the school was hit as a consequence of a strike on the neighboring military complex, whether the target was misidentified, or whether it was a series of successive strikes that also affected the civilian area.
What the available footage and satellite analyses show
The latest analyses of satellite images and verified video materials indicate that the school area was not damaged by just one strike. The footage shows traces of multiple explosions and burned areas around the school building, as well as damage to the neighboring military complex. Reuters, citing the analysis of weapons expert N. R. Jenzen Jones, reported that the pattern of damage suggests several almost simultaneous or successive strikes. Such a pattern further complicates the official explanation of the event, as it raises the question of whether the civilian facility was hit secondarily or found itself within a zone of multiple targeting.
At the same time, other international media that verified the location, including ABC, Time, and Guardian, conclude that the school was a civilian institution, although it was located next to or very close to a complex that, in numerous reports, is linked to the Revolutionary Guard. Translated into the language of international humanitarian law, this is precisely the most sensitive point of the entire case: proximity to a military facility does not cancel the civilian character of the school, and the obligation to distinguish military targets from civilians remains on the side of whoever carries out the attack.
The death toll and why there are differences around it
In recent days, the Iranian authorities have presented several figures about the scale of the tragedy, and the most frequently mentioned number is 168 dead. Some media outlets also reported somewhat lower or higher estimates, in the range of about 165 to 175, while in the first hours after the strike the figures were noticeably lower, which is a common pattern in such situations while victims are being pulled from the rubble and bodies are being identified. According to the available information, the victims included primary school-age girls, teachers, school staff, and some parents or family members who appeared at the scene of the attack in the chaos.
The differences in the figures stem from several reasons. The first is that communication from the affected area was difficult, and the second is that data in wartime conditions often rely on local services, hospitals, provincial authorities, and ministries that do not always publish identical aggregate data at the same time. The third problem is the fact that international organizations and foreign media did not have unlimited access to the ground, so a large part of the reconstruction relies on geolocated footage, witness statements, and official announcements. That is why it is responsible to say that the attack on the school has been confirmed, that the number of civilian victims is very high, but also that the final, fully independently verified toll has not yet been closed.
Iranian accusations, American and Israeli reactions
Tehran accuses the United States and Israel of the attack, claiming that the school was hit as part of coordinated strikes carried out on February 28, 2026, in several parts of Iran. Iranian officials describe the incident as proof that civilian facilities were also targeted in the campaign, while state media present the tragedy as one of the gravest war crimes since the beginning of the conflict. In such a political framework, the attack immediately took on a strong propaganda dimension as well, but this does not change the fact that the visual evidence of the destroyed school and the large number of dead is real and demands a credible explanation.
On the American side, the messages are more cautious. Pentagon officials said that the United States does not target civilians and that it is checking the circumstances of the incident. The Israeli side has repeatedly stated that it has no immediate knowledge of a strike at that location or that it cannot confirm responsibility. It is precisely this combination of denying intent, the absence of a full public reconstruction, and the fact that the school was destroyed that creates space for the most important question that still has no final answer: who exactly carried out the deadly strike, and was the civilian facility hit deliberately, through an error in target identification, or as a consequence of a series of strikes on neighboring military sites.
School next to a military facility: the hardest question of the whole case
One of the key elements of the story is the relationship between the school and the neighboring military infrastructure. According to several analyses, the school building was located right next to a complex connected to the Revolutionary Guard, and some sources also state that the location had once been part of a wider fenced military area, but that for years it had functioned as a clearly separate civilian institution. Such spatial proximity is not unusual in cities and areas where military and civilian functions have grown side by side for decades, but in wartime circumstances it becomes deadly.
That is precisely why experts in international humanitarian law emphasize that the presence of a military facility in the neighborhood cannot be an automatic justification for a strike in which a school full of children is hit. The rule of distinction and the principle of proportionality require that civilian objects be protected and that the risk to civilians be assessed before every attack. If it is shown that the school was a recognizable civilian facility and that the attack was carried out without a sufficient assessment of the risk, the political and legal consequences could be significant, regardless of whether the primary target was the neighboring military complex.
Reactions of the United Nations and international organizations
UNESCO stated that it is deeply disturbed by reports of the deadly attack on a girls' primary school in Minab and reminded that schools, students, and educational personnel enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. The organization warned that attacks on educational institutions do not mean only the immediate loss of life, but also the long-term destruction of the right to education, the sense of security, and the functioning of the local community.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also called for an investigation and requested that the responsible parties explain the circumstances of the attack. The UN said that at this moment there is not enough publicly available data for a final legal qualification of the details of each strike, but that every attack on civilians and civilian objects represents a serious question of a possible violation of the laws of war. In other words, international institutions are not yet delivering a final judgment on legal responsibility, but they are clearly warning that this is an incident that requires a transparent and credible investigation.
Minab as a symbol of the wider war and its cost for civilians
The attack on the school in Minab cannot be viewed separately from the broader military campaign that struck Iran at the end of February. In the first days of the escalation, numerous military, security, and state targets were hit, and the Iranian authorities are reporting that the number of dead across the country is measured in the hundreds. In such an environment, Minab has become a symbol of what happens when the front expands into densely populated areas in which military and civilian facilities are located next to one another.
For the local community, the consequences are both immediate and long-term. In addition to the lost lives, the school as a place of everyday life has been destroyed, classes have been interrupted, and a large number of families have been left without children or without several household members. Photographs and footage from the scene, showing school bags, burned walls, and gathered families, have resonated strongly both inside Iran and beyond. That is precisely why the attack on Minab is no longer viewed only as a local tragedy, but as a test of the credibility of the claims of all sides involved in the war as to whether they do or do not respect the protection of civilians.
Why it is important to distinguish the confirmed from the presumed
In wartime situations, the claims that spread fastest are precisely those that confirm pre-existing political positions. In the case of Minab, it has been confirmed that the school was destroyed, that the neighboring area linked to military infrastructure was also hit, that civilian casualties are numerous, and that international organizations are calling for an investigation. What still has not been fully resolved is the precise attribution of each individual strike, the complete independent verification of the final number of victims, and the answer to the question of whether the civilian facility was a direct target or whether it was destroyed as part of strikes on the nearby military complex.
It is precisely on that difference between the confirmed and the still unresolved that responsible reporting rests. Reporting a major tragedy does not mean amplifying unverified claims, but clearly saying what is known, who claims what, and what still must be established. In the case of Minab, this means that behind the figure of 168 dead, cited by the Iranian authorities, there is a real and documented attack on a school, but also an open international dispute over responsibility, the circumstances, and the legal gravity of the entire event.
While additional findings and possible official investigations are awaited, Minab remains one of the hardest-hit places in the current war in Iran: a city in which the boundary between a military target and a civilian catastrophe, at least according to everything known so far, was breached with consequences that can no longer be reduced to numbers alone.
Sources:- Reuters / Yahoo – analysis of satellite images on multiple strikes on the school and the neighboring military complex in Minab (link)- Reuters / Yahoo – report on the call by the UN Human Rights Office for an investigation into the attack on a school in Iran (link)- UNESCO – official reaction to the attack on the school in Minab and a reminder of the protection of schools in conflict (link)- Time – overview of confirmed and disputed facts about the attack on the school in Minab and the number of victims (link)- ABC News Australia – reconstruction of the events, location, and available videos after the strike on the school in Minab (link)
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