A mourner sprays flower petals on the coffins of children who were killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran's Hormozgan province. Photo / Amirhossein Khorgooei, ISNA, AFP
A mourner sprays flower petals on the coffins of children who were killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran's Hormozgan province. Photo / Amirhossein Khorgooei, ISNA, AFP
Mourners have gathered in the Iranian city of Minab for the funerals of victims of an alleged airstrike at a school which Iran has blamed on Israel and the US, state media reported.
Neither the US nor Israel has said it was behind the strike, although US Secretary of StateMarco Rubio has said that the Pentagon is investigating.
Iranian authorities said the explosion in Minab took place on the first day of the war on Saturday and is one of the largest single losses of civilian life reported in the conflict, with Iranian officials saying 150 people were killed.
AFP has been unable to access the location to independently verify the toll or the circumstances.
Iranian authorities have to give explicit approval to foreign media organisations wishing to report outside Tehran.
Footage filmed from a parking lot showed black smoke billowing from a damaged building adorned with murals featuring drawings of crayons, children and an apple.
The site of a strike on a girls' school in Minab, in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, on February 28, 2026. Photo / Ali Najafi, ISNA, AFP
AFP has geo-located the clip to a building in Minab in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province that appeared to be a school, though it has not been able to independently verify the nature of the site.
AFP has confirmed the building was located in close proximity to two sites controlled by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Shahid Absalan clinic, under the supervision of the IRGC navy’s medical command, lies 238m from the site, while the Seyed al-Shohada IRGC cultural complex is 286m away.
Minab is strategically located close to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas.
AFP could not independently verify the date the footage from the parking lot was filmed.
Iranian state television and a local official identified the site as the Shajare Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.
Mourners cry during the funeral of children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran's Hormozgan province. Photo / Amirhossein Khorgooei, ISNA, AFP
What Iran says
Iran has said more than 150 people were killed in what President Masoud Pezeshkian described as US-Israeli strikes on the school near the strategic sea route of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to state media, Iran this week held funerals for at least 165 people including students killed in the alleged strike.
State television carried images showing a large crowd of mourners in Minab weeping over what appear to be bodies wrapped in white shrouds.
Other images released by state media show individuals preparing coffins draped in the Iranian flag – some bearing photographs of children.
A third clip also shared by state media shows a large crowd gathered around similar caskets with a caption in Persian reading: “Prayer service for the children of Minab who perished.”
Another aerial image showed excavators digging out at least 100 graves at an unidentified mass burial site.
Mourners dig graves during the funeral for the children. Photo / Iranian Press Center, AFP
AFP has been unable to independently verify the date the images were taken or access the location to verify the circumstances surrounding the events.
Pentagon investigation
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States would not intentionally target a school.
“The United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them,” he told reporters.
The Pentagon was investigating the alleged incident, he added.
Israel not aware
For its part, Israel’s military said it was not aware of any US or Israeli strike on a school.
“At this point not aware of an Israeli or an American strike there ... We’re operating in an extremely accurate manner,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
Human rights group
Norway-based rights group Hengaw said it was investigating the identities of the victims.
In a statement, the organisation said the Shajare Tayyebeh school was holding its morning session at the time of the incident, which reportedly had about 170 students present.
The rights group said that the strike’s intended targets were reportedly the nearby IRGC facilities – a claim that AFP has not been able to independently verify.
