Thousands mourn children killed in US-Israeli strike on Iranian school

2026-03-03 - 10:22

A funeral ceremony was held Tuesday in the Iranian city of Minab for children who lost their lives when a primary school in Hormozgan province was struck during US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Thousands of mourners, including families carrying portraits of young victims and local officials, gathered to honor the children killed in what has become one of the most devastating civilian incidents of the ongoing military campaign. Civilian casualties mount The targeting of the school in Hormozgan province adds to a growing civilian death toll that the Iranian Red Crescent reported Tuesday has reached 787 since the joint US-Israeli offensive began Saturday. Search and rescue teams continue to sift through rubble across the country, with no end in sight to the bombardment that has already claimed the lives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior military commanders. Grief and anger in Minab Images from the ceremony show a crowd overwhelmed with grief, mourners holding photographs of young faces as they pay their final respects. The strike on an educational facility has particularly inflamed public sentiment, with many questioning how a primary school could become a military target. The presence of thousands at the funeral reflects the deep impact of civilian losses on Iranian communities now grappling with the human cost of the expanding conflict. Conflict widens The US-Israeli campaign, which President Donald Trump has indicated could last four to five weeks, has already drawn Iranian retaliatory strikes across the Gulf and triggered a new front with Hezbollah along Israel's northern border. As international calls for de-escalation grow louder, funerals like the one in Minab serve as grim reminders of the civilian suffering that continues to accumulate with each day of hostilities.