- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared image of graves of 160 girls killed in a Minab school airstrike
- Araghchi blamed the US and Israel for the bombing, calling the victims innocent young girls
- The strike hit a girls' elementary school near an IRGC base in southern Iran
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has posted an image showing graves being prepared for victims of an airstrike in Minab, southern Iran. The post was shared on Tuesday, in which Araghchi blamed the United States for “murdering innocents in cold blood”.
The strike hit a girls' elementary school during the ongoing conflict. In a message shared on X, Araghchi said the graves were for more than 160 young girls killed in what he described as a US-Israeli bombing.
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“These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school. Their bodies were torn to shreds,” he posted.
He further claimed that the victims were innocent and blamed US President Donald Trump for the incident.
“This is how "rescue" promised by Mr. Trump looks in reality,” he said. The minister concluded his post by saying: “From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood”.
Following US-Israel strikes on Iran, reports said at least 153 people, including children, were killed after a strike hit a school in southern Iran, according to Iranian officials.
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Subsequently, Tehran blamed the United States and Israel for the attack. On the incident, the US Central Command said that it was reviewing the reports.
The girls' school was in Minab in southern Iran, close to a base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that had been struck before. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian called the incident a "barbaric act".
In a statement on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted to the criticism, noting that the US “would not deliberately target a school”.
"The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them," Rubio told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident. "The United States would not deliberately target a school,” he added.
The incident was condemned by UNESCO and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. Under international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting a school, hospital or other civilian site is considered a war crime.
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