A girls elementary school in southern Iran was hit in a Saturday airstrike that local officials say killed at least 63 students, as US-Israeli attacks on the country, deemed "Operation Epic Fury," widened. The Middle East Eye reports that the strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the city of Minab, in the Hormozgan province, where about 170 girls ages 7 to 12 were in class, according to the state-linked Tasnim and Fars news agencies. The Wall Street Journal notes that Saturday is a school day in Iran. Other media reports are citing various death tolls; Iranian media hasn't released an overall casualty count.
State broadcaster IRIB noted that four dozen others had been injured, though that count was also still in flux at publication time, per the Journal. Video shared by accounts linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard appeared to show residents clawing through rubble as smoke rose from damaged buildings and a car lay destroyed nearby, per the Middle East Eye. "You could hear the sound of children crying and screaming," a staff member at the school told the outlet. Al Jazeera cites the Mehrs news agency in reporting that a strike on a second school, east of Tehran, left at least two students dead.
"These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, sharing a photo of some of the carnage from the Minab attack. The reported school strikes came amid broader US and Israeli military action across Iran, with explosions reported in Tehran and such cities as Qom, Karaj, Isfahan, and Kermanshah. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, has reportedly been moved to a secure site, outside of Tehran. President Trump said the joint operation was for "eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime," vowing to "annihilate" Iran's navy and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, though he didn't provide specific evidence for his assertions.
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