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Israeli and American military officials said they were unaware of or investigating reports that an airstrike destroyed a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran, killing 165 people in what would be the deadliest single incident of the offensive launched Saturday against Iranian targets.
The Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, a city in Hormozgan province, was struck as part of joint US-Israeli operations across Iran, according to state media.
The local prosecutor said 96 others were injured, the IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
Israel’s military said it had no knowledge of strikes in the area. A US military spokesperson said the reports were being reviewed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a photograph showing rubble where the school had stood, saying the attack killed “innocent children.” He wrote that “these crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered.”
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei condemned what he called a “blatant crime” and demanded action from the UN Security Council.
Separately, at least two students died when another school east of Tehran was hit, the Mehr news agency said. Details of that strike were not immediately available.
Footage circulating on social media showed a man holding what he said were the remains of a child aged six or seven. He accused Washington and Tel Aviv of war crimes.
Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran for Al Jazeera, said the school attacks contradicted American and Israeli claims that only military infrastructure was being targeted. President Donald Trump has said aid would reach the Iranian people, Vall noted, but civilian casualties undermine that message.
“That’s something that the Iranian government will stress as a case of violation of international law and an aggression against the Iranian people,” Vall said.
The strikes on schools recalled the civilian toll from the 12-day war last June, when US and Israeli forces previously attacked Iran.
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Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education said thousands of civilians were killed or wounded in that conflict, with extensive damage to public infrastructure.
Saturday’s offensive triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks by Iran against US military bases across the Middle East and Israeli targets. The exchange has drawn warnings from governments worldwide about the risk of wider regional conflict.
Minab sits roughly 100 kilometers east of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil shipments. The city has no major military installations but lies near naval facilities Iran operates along the Gulf coast.
Whether the school was deliberately targeted, struck accidentally or hit by munitions that missed intended targets remains unclear. Neither the US nor Israel has provided details about which sites were attacked or what weapons were used.
Iran has accused both countries of deliberately attacking civilian areas to terrorize the population and weaken public morale. American and Israeli officials have said their operations focused on military and nuclear facilities, though they have not released targeting lists or damage assessments.
The contrasting accounts reflect a broader pattern in the conflict, where each side disputes the other’s version of events and independent verification remains difficult due to restrictions on journalists and outside observers.
Hormozgan province hosts Iranian naval bases and missile installations but also densely populated urban areas. Distinguishing between military and civilian casualties in the aftermath of airstrikes has proven complicated in previous rounds of fighting.
Schools across Iran remained open Saturday despite the offensive, according to education officials, who said classes would continue unless specific threats emerged in particular areas.
Whether authorities ordered evacuations in Minab before the strike is unknown.
The Shajareh Tayyebeh school serves elementary-age girls in a city of roughly 80,000 people. Iran operates gender-segregated schools throughout the country, with separate facilities for boys and girls at all levels of education.
