Israeli strike hits girls’ school in southern Iran, at least 53 killed

TEHRAN: An Israeli strike hit an elementary girls’ school in Minab, a city in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least 53 people and injuring 63 others, according to Iranian state media.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that rescue workers were continuing to clear debris from the site on Saturday as the civilian toll from the ongoing US-Israeli bombardment of Iran came into sharper focus.

The attack is part of a wave of joint US-Israeli military strikes across Iran that has triggered a fresh outbreak of regional violence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared an image of the damaged school on social media platform X, saying the strike destroyed the girls’ school and killed “innocent children.”

“These crimes against the Iranian people will not go unanswered,” he wrote.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei condemned what he called a “blatant crime” and urged the United Nations Security Council to take action.

Separately, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that at least two students were killed in another Israeli strike that targeted a school east of the capital, Tehran.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Vall said the reported attacks raise questions about US and Israeli assertions that their operations are aimed solely at military targets.

“President Trump has promised the Iranian people that aid or help is coming their way, but now we are seeing civilian casualties,” Vall said, adding that Tehran would frame the incident as a violation of international law and aggression against its people.

There was no immediate response from the United States or Israel to Iran’s claims regarding the school strikes.

The latest escalation follows joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began earlier, prompting retaliatory action from Tehran and heightening fears of a broader regional conflict.

The previous round of fighting between the United States and Iran in June 2025, which lasted 12 days, also resulted in heavy civilian casualties in Iran.

According to Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, thousands of civilians were killed or injured during that conflict, and public infrastructure suffered extensive damage.