BEIRUT — The U.S. military told The Washington Post it was “looking into” reports of an airstrike Saturday morning that Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said killed more than 100 children at a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran.
Iranian state media said U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeted the Shajarah Tayyiba girls’ school in the Iranian city of Minab while children were attending classes at the school.
The school is near what appears to be a military installation, according to satellite imagery and open source material. An Iranian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the school was near a “small medical center.” When asked if an IRGC base was present in the city, he did not confirm or deny it, but said it would not be unusual for one to be located there.
Video recorded by bystanders and verified by The Postshowed a crowd frantically gathered around the school after it was struck. Shattered glass and crumbled wall blanketed the ground. One side of the building appeared to have nearly collapsed, as smoke rose from the debris. Additional footage released by Iranian media showed backpacks apparently stained with blood and a row of what appeared to be corpses in body bags.
Responding to the reports of the strike that hit the school, U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told The Post that the military was “aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them.”
He added that “protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm. Unlike Iran, we have never — and will never — target civilians.”
The most recent overall toll from the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran has reached 201 dead and 747 injured across 24 provinces, according to Iran’s state broadcaster, citing figures from the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The Post could not independently verify these casualty reports.
Minab is in southern Iran near the strategic Strait of Hormuz sea route. At the time of the strike on the school, classes were reportedly underway. Iran’s weekday begins on Saturday under Islamic custom.
The attack has provoked widespread anger in Iran and around the world. At a protest in New York City, Aisha Jukaku, a 41-year-old resident of Manhattan, said she quickly made her way to Times Square after she saw news reports of a school being bombed in Iran. “I’m sick to my stomach about us going into another war,” said Jukaku, an Indian American who is also Muslim.
In a post on X, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai said she was “heartbroken and appalled” by the strike. “They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future. Today, their lives were brutally cut short.”
Tim Craig, Alex Horton, Imogen Piper, Meg Kelly, Jarrett Ley, Evan Hill, Heba Farouk Mahfouz and Simon Ducroquet contributed to this report.
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