WANA (May 23) – As dusk falls, Minab slowly takes on a different face. Until just a few weeks ago, the sound of school bells and the lively noise of children formed part of the city’s daily rhythm. Now, every evening, the town sinks into a heavy silence.

 

On land that was once a football field and playground for children, rows of freshly laid gravestones now tell another story of those same childhoods.

 

Before nightfall, mothers arrive one by one at the graves of their children, carrying framed photographs in their hands and eyes still haunted by the shock of the morning of February 28, 2026.

Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School. Minab, Iran, May 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

Among them is the mother of Ahmadreza and Javad Sartekzadeh, who every evening walks the road from her home to the cemetery. The two brothers had left for Shajareh Tayyebeh School that morning, just as they always did, but they never returned home.

 

Anyone passing by cannot help but stare at the half-destroyed school building: burned and shattered walls, broken windows, and fragments of colorful childlike paint still clinging to parts of the structure.

 

A few women stand silently in front of the building, tears running down their faces. On a wall near the ruined school, photographs of the students killed in the attack have been mounted — faces that instinctively draw the gaze of every passerby.

Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School. Minab, Iran, May 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

In the hands of Ahmadreza and Javad’s mother is a framed picture of her two sons. Recounting that moment, she says: “Their father and I ran to the school as fast as we could. The moment we reached the gate and saw the scene, we knew immediately that neither Javad nor Ahmadreza had survived.”

 

The attack on Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School took place on the morning of February 28, 2026, during the first hours of military strikes launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.

 

According to official accounts and published reports, the attack occurred in three separate waves and almost completely destroyed the school building. Official figures state that 168 people were killed in the attack, including 120 students, 26 teachers, as well as several parents and school staff members. Dozens more were injured.

 

Minab, a city located 90 kilometers east of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, had no known military base and was not considered by many residents to be a likely target of war. That fact only deepened the shock for families. Speaking on camera, the mother of Ahmadreza and Javad says: “We knew the war had started, but we never thought they would strike Minab. We never imagined a school would become a target.”

Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School. Minab, Iran, May 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

Elsewhere in her account, referring to claims that the site had military significance, she says: “I don’t know what America’s target was when they claimed the place was military. It was never military. These children were innocent.”

 

Standing near the destroyed school building, she suddenly pauses as the sound of Quran recitation can be heard nearby. Fighting back tears, she says: “I think that’s my son’s voice. Ahmadreza used to recite the Quran and had been taking tajwid classes for two years.” At that point, grief overwhelms her.

 

Images of notebooks and textbooks left beneath the rubble, the boys’ empty room, their clothes, and personal belongings have now become part of the collective memory of the city. In the Sartekzadeh family home, photographs of the two brothers still hang on the walls beside a family portrait showing them with their mother and siblings.

Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School. Minab, Iran, May 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

In the middle of her account, the mother also speaks of anger and disbelief: “They said the Americans were coming to help us, but we saw what their help looked like. This was their help.” Then, standing beside the graves of her two sons — on what used to be their playground — she says: “They used to play football here with their friends, right on this field. And now they’re buried here.”

 

According to witness accounts, satellite imagery, and published reports, Shajareh Tayyebeh School was functioning as an educational facility at the time of the attack and had been separated from surrounding complexes by perimeter walls since at least 2016.

 

Based on registration records, eyewitness testimony, local accounts, and satellite image analysis, the building had been converted into a school around a decade earlier and had continuously served educational purposes ever since. Reports also indicate that Tomahawk cruise missiles used by the U.S. military struck the school building.

Satellite image analysis from the building of Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab, 2016. Social media /WANA News Agency

Satellite image analysis from the building of Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab, 2016. Social media /WANA News Agency

Weeks after the attack, the story of Minab has grown beyond the mourning of grieving families. The incident has now become the focus of a broad legal and media campaign titled “1+168.” The number 168 refers to the victims of the attack, while the “1” symbolizes every individual who chooses not to remain silent.

 

Organizers of the campaign say their goals are to “raise the cost of terrorism,” thoroughly document the incident, pursue legal action in international forums, and shape a global narrative around what happened in Minab.

 

The campaign’s official website, https://168plus1.com/en/⁠, has been launched to publish documents, survivor testimonies, legal statements, images of victims, and an international petition. Organizers emphasize that “schools must be places of learning, not scenes of the deliberate killing of children.”

 

A few days earlier, a gathering attended by victims’ families, domestic and foreign journalists, and surviving students was held in front of the destroyed school building. During the event, one surviving student from Shajareh Tayyebeh School said: “Those who remain silent are just as guilty as those who committed this crime. I survived so I could become the voice of my martyred brothers and sisters.”

Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh School. Minab, Iran, May 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

At the same time, officials in Hormozgan Province have announced that the attack is being pursued legally as a “war crime.” The governor of Hormozgan stated that the case would be pursued as “the third American war crime in the world.” Alongside these efforts, public campaigns have also emerged to rebuild the school and construct “168 schools” in memory of Minab’s victims.

 

In recent weeks, dozens of foreign journalists and documentary filmmakers have traveled to Minab as part of media and legal initiatives to record the story of the tragedy — a story that has now extended far beyond the walls of a single school and become part of the broader memory of the war against Iran. International media outlets and human rights organizations have repeatedly addressed the Minab incident in recent months, and some United Nations experts have described the targeting of an active educational center as a serious violation of humanitarian law.

 

But in Minab itself, the story repeats every evening — somewhere between framed photographs of children, dusty playgrounds, and mothers who still cannot believe their children left for school and never came home.