‘Visceral horror’: UN rights body condemns US strike on Iranian school

The UN Human Rights Council held an emergency session to universally condemn a deadly US missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, demanding immediate accountability for the massacre of over 170 students and teachers.

The urgent debate was convened in Geneva on Friday at the request of the Islamic Republic of Iran, China, and Cuba.

It focused on addressing the February 28 US-Israeli terrorist strike against the Shajare Tayyebe Elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab, which occurred on the first day of the war of aggression.

Speaking at the start of the session, Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, stated that the deadly bombing "evoked a visceral horror," telling the United Nations' top rights body that the slaughter of civilians is unjustifiable.

He emphasized that "whatever differences countries have, we can all agree they will not be solved by killing schoolchildren."

“The images of bombed-out classrooms and grieving parents showed clearly who pays the highest price for war: civilians with no power in the decisions that led to conflict," Türk said.

He noted the victims included, "In this case, a reported 168 pupils, teachers, school staff, and their loved ones."

Stressing the need for justice "for the terrible harm done," Türk added, "the onus is on those who carried out the attack to investigate it promptly, impartially, transparently and thoroughly."

"Senior US officials have said the strike is under investigation," he noted, calling for that "process to be concluded as soon as possible, and for its findings to be made public."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a virtual statement to the council, noting the "blatantly unjustified and brutal" aggression began while Tehran and Washington were engaging in a diplomatic process.

"Among the most harrowing manifestations of this aggression," Araghchi maintained, was the "calculated, phased assault on Shajare Tayyebe Elementary school."

He added that the targeting of civilian infrastructure is intentional, noting that over 600 schools have been damaged and more than 1,000 students and teachers killed or wounded in recent weeks.

Highlighting that the school attack was a "war crime and a crime against humanity," the top Iranian diplomat urged "unequivocal condemnation by all and unambiguous accountability for the culprits."

According to witness accounts verified by satellite-based analyses, the school was triple-tapped by three distinct strikes.

"This cruel attack is but the visible tip of a far bigger iceberg—one that conceals beneath its surface far graver catastrophes, namely: the normalization of the most abhorrent violations of human rights and humanitarian law, and the audacity to commit atrocity crimes with impunity," said Araghchi.

Farida Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, also addressed the council. She confirmed the use of US Tomahawk cruise missiles in the strike, a detail previously corroborated by a US military investigation reported by The New York Times.

Shaheed noted that the victims were primarily children aged 7 to 12, calling the attack a clear violation of international humanitarian law and a potential war crime. She warned that such atrocities must not fall into a gap of impunity.

Putting a human face to the tragedy, Mohadeseh Falahat, the mother of two martyred students, Mahdiyeh and Amin Ahmadzadeh, addressed the council on behalf of the grieving families.

Speaking emotionally about the deep void left by the children's unfinished dreams, she demanded truth and justice—not for revenge, but to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies.

By the session's close, representatives from nearly 60 countries and 19 civil society organizations had spoken, fiercely condemning the US attacks and demanding an independent, transparent investigation into the massacre.

Reacting to the session, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei urged the world to stand up against the US-Israeli crimes.

"The world must stand up to this grave breach of international law, including human rights and humanitarian law، as this is merely one, among many, examples of  American-Israeli war crimes & crimes against humanity committed during the past 28 days of their illegal war against Iran," he wrote on X.

"Those innocent kids and their teachers who were slaughtered in cold blood symbolise the barbarity and brutality of the invaders. They must be held accountable for their egregious rights abuses & genocidal war crimes," he highlighted.

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