Iran held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 schoolgirls and staff killed on Saturday in what Iran has described as a United States-Israeli attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.

The Israeli military has claimed it was not aware of any Israeli or US attacks in that area. Throughout its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel has denied multiple deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians, only to later backtrack when irrefutable evidence emerged, then terming such attacks as “accidental”.

Iranian state television on Tuesday showed thousands of people filling a public square in Minab. Men waved the Islamic Republic flag while largely standing apart from women draped in black chadors.

From the stage, a woman who said she was the mother of “Atena” held up a printed image of portraits that she called “a document of American crimes”. She added, “They died in the way of God.”

The crowd erupted into chants of “Death to America”, “Death to Israel”, and “No surrender”.

The attack took place on Saturday after the US and Israel announced joint strikes on Iran, marking the deadliest incident in the war against Tehran so far, targeting civilians.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday accused the US and Israel of killing the schoolgirls.

“These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school. Their bodies were torn to shreds,” Araghchi wrote on X, alongside an image of newly dug graves.

“This is how ‘rescue’ promised by Mr Trump looks in reality. From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood.”

Authorities in Tehran have called for international action and solidarity after several hospitals and schools were impacted by United States and Israeli air strikes on the country as Iran continues to fire missiles and drones across the region.

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the two countries “continue to indiscriminately strike residential areas, sparing neither hospitals, schools, Red Crescent facilities, nor cultural monuments”.

US denies knowledge of attack

The incident has been condemned by the United Nations culture and education agency UNESCO and Nobel Peace Prize-winning education activist Malala Yousafzai.

Deliberately attacking an educational institution, hospital, or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.

“The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident.

“The United States would not deliberately target a school,” he claimed.

Over the weekend, the US Central Command told media outlets it was “looking into” reports of “civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations”.

Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN under-secretary-general for peacebuilding, said on Monday she was aware of reports from Iran on the deaths from the reported strike and noted that US officials have said they were looking into the reports. (Al Jazeera)

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