The Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, a city in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province, became a site of mass casualties when at least one U.S. missile struck the facility during the opening hours of a conflict. According to Iranian state media, 168 people died in the attack, with the majority being students. An Associated Press investigation confirmed that a missile hit the school that morning, though the Trump administration has not released findings from a Pentagon investigation into the incident.
The school housed separate sections for girls and boys, along with a preschool, serving predominantly local children from the Baluch ethnic minority as well as children of Revolutionary Guard officers stationed at a nearby base. According to documentation at the site, the casualties included 120 students—47 girls and 73 boys—along with 26 teachers and staff members. Three additional children are presumed dead but were never recovered.
Families have been left to process the loss in the aftermath. Heydar Sadeghi lost his 11-year-old grandson Hami and his daughter-in-law, a teacher at the school, in the strike. His 9-year-old granddaughter Nila survived but has experienced significant psychological trauma. Other survivors and bereaved relatives gathered at the damaged building, where a banner displays photographs of those killed. The provincial governor announced plans to preserve the damaged structure as a memorial and war museum.
Accounts from school staff suggest that some teachers recognized danger after initial airstrikes in Tehran earlier that morning and attempted to urge the principal to dismiss classes. A second-grade teacher named Nasim Neyestani reportedly called parents of her students to pick them up, successfully getting fourteen children to safety before the strike. However, eight of her students remained at school when the missile hit. The AP investigation found that several teachers made such calls before the government issued a nationwide school closure order at 10:15 a.m., with the strike occurring approximately one hour later.
A separate cemetery section has been established for those killed at the school, with individual graves marked by photographs and maintained spaces where families visit to grieve and leave flowers and traditional funeral food offerings.
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