WANA (Jun 29) – Despite repeated Israeli claims that their recent military strikes on Iran avoid civilian targets, mounting evidence paints a starkly different picture. Among the casualties of the latest Israeli aggression were 20 Iranian students, children, and teenagers who were neither soldiers nor politicians, but simply young dreamers caught in the crossfire.

 

Civilian Casualties Across Multiple Cities

The deadly airstrikes hit several major Iranian cities, including Tehran, Qom, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Khorramabad. Victims were killed in their homes, on the streets, and even in transit with their families. The deaths have sparked outrage across the country and are being seen as a tragic reminder of what Iranian officials are calling the “true face of child-killing by the Zionist regime.”

 

Among the victims were Taha Behrouzi and Alisan Jabari, two young boys from Tabriz who had just enrolled in first grade but never made it to their first day of school. “They were so excited to buy their first schoolbags and notebooks,” said a relative. “They kept asking questions about their first day—but they never got to see it.”

 

Alisan’s mother, who survived the attack but witnessed her child’s death, recounted the horrific moment: “My seven-year-old was playing, unaware of the enemy’s dirty world, when the attack began. He was hit in the head. I bent down to pick him up, and I was injured too. I carried him to the courtyard… We were both covered in blood. He died in my arms.”

 

Alisan had once dreamed of becoming a pilot.

Taha Behrouzi and Alisan Jabari, two young boys from Tabriz. Social media/ WANA News Agency

A Nation in Mourning

In Isfahan, Fatemeh Sharifi, a seventh grader, and her younger brother, Mojtaba, a third-grade student, were killed alongside their parents in Najafabad. Their once lively home has now fallen silent.

 

In Tehran, Matin Safaeian, a 16-year-old high school student at Sadr High School, was killed while walking near Tajrish Square, far from any military facility. His mother, herself the daughter of a martyr from the Iran-Iraq war, is now mourning a second generation of sacrifice.

 

From Khorramabad, Helena Gholami was killed with her family on the Qom–Tehran highway, as even Iran’s roads were no longer safe from the missile fire.

 

In Qom, Ehsan Ghasemi, a 16-year-old boy, was killed in his own home in the Salariyeh district—a place that should have been the safest haven for any child.

 

Amirali Chatranbarin, a seventh-grade student from Shahed Ali Akbar High School in Lahijan, was visiting relatives in Astan-e Ashrafiyeh when Israeli missiles hit the area overnight. His parents, who were in Lahijan at the time, survived.

 

In Tehran’s District 13, Sarvin Hamidian, a third-grade student at Shahed Beheshti Primary School, was killed in the capital alongside her mother during the bombardment.

Fatemeh Sharifi, a seventh grader, and her younger brother, Mojtaba, were killed in an Israeli attack. Social media/ WANA News Agency

Education Sector Also Impacted

Iran’s Minister of Education, Alireza Kazemi, confirmed the deaths of 20 students and noted that some teachers were also killed. He added that several schools across the country sustained minor damage during the attacks.

 

These civilian deaths—especially the loss of so many children—have fueled public grief and intensified international criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Iran. Iranian officials continue to demand accountability while asserting that the deliberate targeting of non-combatants constitutes a war crime. Meanwhile, the dreams of 20 students have been buried beneath the rubble, never to see the morning light again.