Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi has paid tribute to the children killed in Minab during the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, vowing that the Iranian people will continue to stand firm in defense of their independence.

Speaking after his film Midday Meal won the Best Film award at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival, Majidi said 168 innocent children were killed on the first day of the attacks.

“They tore our children to pieces,” he said, adding that the bodies of some of the children were never found.

Majidi said homes, universities, and residential areas had also been targeted, adding that Iran had lost between 4,000 and 5,000 people.

“What do you think our people’s crime is? They simply want to be independent. We will stand firm until the very end,” he said.

On the very first day of the unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition on February 28, US Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.

'Gravest war crime': Iran's UN envoy demands justice for US strike on Minab school

A senior Iranian diplomat says the US must be fully held accountable for its most horrific crime against a primary school in Minab that killed 168 civilians most of them children.

In his remarks following the award ceremony, Majidi also condemned decades of economic and medical sanctions imposed on Iran, saying that the Iranian people had refused to surrender despite sustained pressure.

“For 48 years, the Iranian people have been subjected to the harshest economic and medical sanctions, to the extent that even medical assistance for children with cancer has been withheld,” he said.

He added that Iran had faced repeated attacks because its people had refused to yield to external pressure.

“When they saw that the Iranian people would not surrender despite all these pressures, they subjected us to the most brutal attacks,” Majidi said.

He further noted that Iranian cities and the country as a whole had been subjected to brutal bombing campaigns in previous years and again in 2026.

In a first for Iranian cinema, Midday Meal, directed by Majidi, has secured a direct route into the Best International Feature Film competition at the 2027 Academy Awards after winning Best Film at the Busan International Film Festival.

Under the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ revised rules, winners of designated awards at selected international film festivals may qualify for Oscar consideration without requiring selection by their national committees.

The festivals include Busan, Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance.

Before receiving the award in Busan, Midday Meal had already attracted attention from international critics and media outlets, with praise for its direction, performances, and human-centered narrative.