Forty Days After the Minab School Strike: Mourning, Memory, and the Cost of War on Children

Forty days after one of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the recent conflict, Iranians gathered in Minab to commemorate the victims of the missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school, an incident that has become a powerful symbol of the human cost of war. On Thursday, prominent Iranian sports figures—including Rasoul Khadem, Olympic champion Komeil Ghasemi, former national wrestler Mostafa Hosseinkhani, and Olympic and world champion Hassan Rahimi—attended the memorial ceremony, standing alongside grieving families at the graves of the children. Images also circulated showing the presence of Voria Ghafouri, former captain of Iran’s national soccer team and a well-known advocate for social justice, further amplifying national attention to the tragedy.

The ceremony marked the fortieth day since the attack on February 28 (9 Esfand), when a missile struck the school in Minab, Hormozgan Province, just hours into the war. Subsequent reporting his indicated that the U.S. was conducting strikes in the area, that the munitions that hit the school were American tomahawk missiles and that the U.S. is likely the party responsible for the strike. The timing and nature of the strike have raised serious concerns about civilian protection and the conduct of hostilities under international humanitarian law.

The human toll of the attack remains staggering. According to The Prosecutor of Minab County, the final death toll from the attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh School is 156. 120 students - 73 boys and 47 girls - were killed, the majority between the ages of 7 and 12. The victims were not only children but also educators and family members who were present at the school, including 26 female teachers, 7 parents, a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician from a clinic adjacent to the school, and a mother expecting a child. While the school had been described in some reports as a girls’ institution, further verification indicates that the four-story building housed both boys and girls in separate sections.

The forty-day mourning ceremony (chehelom) - a deeply rooted cultural and religious tradition in Iran - transformed into a moment of collective grief and national reflection. Families, local residents, and public figures gathered in sorrow, expressing what many described as an “endless grief” for the children lost. The presence of widely respected public figures signaled that the tragedy has resonated far beyond Minab, becoming a national wound.

While evidence and reporting increasingly point to U.S. responsibility for the strike, U.S. officials have yet to confirm responsibility despite strong calls for accountability, including from Members of Congress. Under international humanitarian law, attacks on civilian sites such as schools - especially when resulting in mass child casualties - may constitute serious violations, potentially rising to the level of war crimes if principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution were not upheld.

The Minab school attack, and the mourning that continues forty days later, underscores a broader reality: children have borne one of the heaviest burdens of this conflict. As families continue to grieve, the calls for accountability, transparency, and protection of civilians grow louder. Ultimately, the tragedy of Minab is not only about what happened on that morning - it is about what it represents. A generation of children in Minab lost, a community forever changed, and a stark reminder that in modern warfare, civilians - especially children - remain the most vulnerable.