Iran has called on the United Nations and the international community to hold the United States and Israel accountable for what it described as a war crime against children following a deadly strike on a primary school in the southern city of Minab. The incident occurred during a recent US-Israeli military operation targeting Iran.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council’s annual open debate on Children and Armed Conflict on Thursday, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, characterized the strike on the Minab school as one of the gravest crimes committed against Iranian children. He urged the UN to pursue justice and ensure accountability for those responsible.

According to Iravani, the military campaign deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and educational facilities, resulting in the deaths of 220 Iranian children, among them 17 under the age of five. He said dozens of schools and other civilian sites were destroyed or severely damaged in the attacks.

The ambassador described the Minab school strike as the deadliest incident involving children during the conflict. Located in Hormozgan Province, the school was reportedly hit twice by US missiles during school hours while 264 students were in attendance. Iravani stated that the attack killed 168 children aged seven to twelve, as well as teachers and parents, and left more than 96 others injured. He also noted that many victims were trapped under rubble for hours and some bodies were so severely damaged they could not be immediately identified.

“These were children exercising their fundamental right to education in a place that should have been safe,” Iravani told the Security Council, emphasizing that the victims were civilians protected under international humanitarian law.

The Iranian envoy argued that the assault represented two of the six grave violations against children identified by the United Nations: the killing and maiming of children and attacks on schools. He labeled the strike a war crime and said it posed a challenge to the credibility of the international legal system established under the UN Charter.

Iran called on the UN and the global community to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and ensure full accountability for everyone involved, including perpetrators, planners, and commanders.

In closing, Iravani stressed that the protection of children must be universal and free from political bias. “The memory of the children of Minab demands justice, accountability, and action—not silence,” he said.