Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency has reported that at least 40 people were killed after an Israeli strike hit a girls’ elementary school in Minab in the southern Hormozgan province.

This is a developing story. I've provided some micro-updates in the comments, focusing on the verification of the story.

I recommend this Middle East Eye, and this Guardian article for more on this story.

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[–] 139 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Israel not killing children for one month challenge: IMPOSSIBLE

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  • [–] 68 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Fuck Israel. Fake ass country.

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  • [–] 50 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 child)

    Not gonna lie, it was a one off joke in Rick and Morty I saw at the end of highschool that got me to realize that, "oh this is a thing thing. Like not that one should be taking cartoons as political fact but that for the past few decades shining light on the legitimacy of Israel almost automatically turns you into a raving drunk lunatic".

    It's not about Jews, or a homeland. It's a concerted effort by a group of people for over a century to underhandedly amass power and exert influence while doing great harm and lying. These aren't middle eastern people searching for their ancestral lands. They are power hungry Europeans who changed their names to larp as semetic people, to displace and replace the people who've lived there for centuries.

    How a group of pilfering bandits made themselves synonymous with a religion AND ethnicity is fucking fascinating. Saying any critique of ZIONISTS and their actions brings down the wrath of YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT. I can't even fathom the dirt they have on people or why we even fucking care anymore.

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago

    I think about that one-off joke a lot these days. I was already an adult, but stating that Israel was a threat was still verboten. The tides on zionism have turned a lot in the past few years. Rick's metaphorical dance around the topic, attempting to clarify that his position had nothing to do with Judaism but rather with the state itself, is a hallmark of the era in which it was made. I can't help but wonder how that joke will be viewed as time goes on. Not that Rick would be proven wrong (Israel's doing a bang-up job of showing he was right), but the "dance" around the topic will change as more and more people grow up with Israel's threat being blatantly obvious.

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago

    We already know that Trump approves of killing young girls.

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  • [–] [S] 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    God, this is complicated. Top-level comment of where I wanted to micro-update got deleted.

    So, it will be here. Though, I don't think there will be much more to say.

    earlier update

    source

    Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Vall said of the attack on the girls’ school, “There are new reports confirming the number of people killed in that strike has now gone above 40. […]”

    Recent updates

    source

    A staff member at the Minab school, who asked not to be named, told Middle East Eye she remains in shock at the intensity of the attack.

    Through tears, she said she used to watch the young girls playing at school every day. After today’s strikes, however, she saw their bodies lying on classroom benches and in different corners of the school.

    Pinging @diplomjodler3@lemmy.world FYI

    source

    Death toll rises to 85, according to Iranian judiciary.

    At least 85 people, almost all of them young girls, have been killed in an air strike on a primary school in southern Iran, the Iranian judiciary said.

    Also,

    There were 170 female students at the school at the time of the attack. So far, at least 45 people have also been reported wounded.

    The victims were between seven and 12 years old, according to Iran's Tasnim and Fars news agencies.

    UTC: 17:29 update

    source

    Capt Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and they were looking into them.

    UTC: 18:15 update

    Video circulating on social media of the site post-impact. I can't verify the authenticity of this.

    UTC: 19:43 update

    The Guardian published an article with more information on this at 18.28 GMT.

    Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.

    The school appears to be adjacent to a Revolutionary Guards barracks. If the death toll is confirmed, the school bombing would be the largest mass casualty event of the US-led attack so far.

    UTC: 20:29 update

    Here's a imginn.com frontend link to the instagram post by Persian factchecking service Factnameh. It's a mini presentation about the event.

    Also

    Middle East Eye has a more complete article now.

    After hearing the blast, she [staff at the school MEE says they interviewed] ran back towards the school and was faced with a scene she says she would never forget.

    “I felt like I had gone mute. I couldn’t speak,” the staff member told MEE. “You could hear the sound of children crying and screaming.”

    When rescue teams arrived, she said, they began to understand the scale of the disaster.

    “We still don’t know how many are under the rubble. Some are even saying more than 100. Some of these small children are severely injured. Their parents have come to the school, and this place has turned into a house of mourning.”

    The air strike on the school left many inside the building trapped beneath the rubble.

    There were 170 female students at the school at the time of the attack. So far, at least 45 people have also been reported wounded.

    Footage posted by Telegram accounts affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps appeared to show people digging through the rubble.

    Smoke could be seen rising from surrounding buildings, while a wrecked car lay in the street. People were heard screaming and wailing; others appeared to be in shock.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the attack on X and said the deaths of the children would "not go unanswered".

    "The destroyed building is a primary school for girls in the south of Iran. It was bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils," he wrote.

    "Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone."

    UTC: 21:38 ending updates

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    everyone with a young daughter knows how horrible this is. I still cant understand was it muscle-memory for the israeli pilot thinking he was in gaza? was this an intentional war crime? or how the fuck did a F35 or whatever precision bomb girls elementary school? this was not a ballistic missile 9000 miles away

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  • [–] 46 points 8 months ago (14 children)

    Americans begin liberating Iranian women by 'checks notes' yeah doing what they are best at, bombing them.

    Fuck america, fuck liberalism, fuck imperialism

    Go IRAN!!

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  • [+] 21 points 8 months ago (8 children)
  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

    Iran has targeted US military bases across the middle east meanwhile these satanic pedophiles are bombing children

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    US bases would of course be targeted. They are an invasive force.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Iran should fight aggressively till the end.

    Yes! Ideally!

    Once the IRGC collapses the Iranians can be free again 👍

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    My fascist regime is better than your fascist regime!

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  • [+] -9 points 8 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    How do you call somebody who supports fascists? And it makes no fucking difference whatsoever whether the fascists wear red baseball caps or turbans. And as for the imperialism, I think the Kurds and other ethnic minorities in Iran would like a word.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    TIL in Iran there is school on Saturdays, for girls.

    I already know that war is horrible. Iranian regime, Israeli and US government have failed (to resolve their differences peacefully). Civilians will suffer and die because of it.

    I don't know how credible the source of the information is. I don't say it didn't happen, I just don't trust the source.

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    The weekend in Iran is Thursday and Friday. Saturday is the first day of the week, and yes, there are schools for girls... I'm not sure what you're implying by that bit...

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    Thanks.

    The weekend in Iran is Thursday and Friday. Saturday is the first day of the week

    I didn't know that. Why is that? Something about religious beliefs?

    Found this: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/irans-debate-about-weekends-highlights-tehrans-ideological-constraints

    ... parliament ultimately approved the plan to make Friday and Saturday the official weekend on May 15, 2024. Yet the Guardian Council subsequently rejected this decision...

    and yes, there are schools for girls... I'm not sure what you're implying by that bit...

    It is the information in the article, which I don't doubt (including workweek). That bit is not part of the message to provoke an emotional reaction during wartime.

    E: I looked for Women's education and workforce in Iran, because I didn't know anything about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights_in_Iran

    women comprised just 19% of the paid workforce, with seven percent growth since 1990

    As of 2006, women account for over half of the university students in Iran,[92] and 70% of Iran's science and engineering students.[95]

    I wouldn't have thought that the situation is so positive, education-wise. In that regard I was quite uneducated, you are right.

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  • [–] -3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    After months of protests, I truly doubt a bunch of girls were at school on a Saturday.

    Just like the US said Iraq was removing premature infants from respirators in Kuwait. Bullshit.

    Just like Israel said Hamas was beheading babies. Absolute nonsense.

    It's meant to generate rage first and foremost, to dehumanize the enemy.

    War is dehumanizing enough.

    I do not trust Iran one bit. Iranians, maybe. They're the ones suffering here. But the regimes at play here can all get fucked.

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    You're comparing Israeli and US lies to justify bombing civilians with a country being surprise attacked in the middle of peace negotiations saying one of the 500 targets Israel is gloating about was a school... Because you think it's the weekend?

    Not so fun fact, the weekend in Iran is Thursday and Friday. Yes, there is school on Saturday.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago

    Fair point, I was ignorant of their weekends. But I was also considering that their society has been in disarray during protests for months.

    Even that doesn't mean there wouldn't be school.

    I still distrust news that comes from any of the regimes at play here.

    And any deaths of civilians would be tragic. Of course if a school was indeed hit that would be a horrific thing.

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  • [+] -6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)
  • [–] [S] 13 points 8 months ago* (3 children)

    Friend...

    screenshot of a duckduckgo search for "iran girls school death toll", showing various media reporting on the killings.

    I don't wanna put skepticism down like this, and saying that pretty much every news org is gonna take that statement right now is understandably not enough sometimes... Maybe somebody can articulate this better why it's nonsense not to roughly believe this right now.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Those are still all just quoting Iranian state media. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just saying there is no independent confirmation, as far as I'm aware.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, that's what I meant by

    and saying that pretty much every news org is gonna take that statement right now is understandably not enough sometimes

    Sorry, I can't express what's on my mind right now. I guess we can talk about this again once the situation there is more or less independently verified. :)

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  • [–] -4 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Do Iranians go to school on a Saturday? or what's the deal, here in Australia schools are practically empty on the weekend

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  • [–] 27 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Iran doesn't follow the "weekend" schedule of Western historically Christian countries.

    Many Muslim-majority countries (and Israel) follow a Friday-Saturday weekend schedule, but it seems that in Iran only Friday is the "weekend."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workweek_and_weekend#Iran

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago

    Iran's weekend is Thursday and Friday. Most of the middle east was Thursday and Friday 20 years ago, though most have changed to Friday Saturday to better align with international business with the west.

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  • [+] -5 points 8 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] [S] 5 points 8 months ago* (4 children)

    https://piefed.social/comment/10332190

    It's also not unheard of that Israel targets schools, children, incubators, etc. on purpose and washes the narrative by targeting journalists and lying.

    Like, has Germany even started calling it a genocide yet? You say it's typical Iran. But do you acknowledge, it's typical Israel that their horrors immediately get denied, put into question, etc.?

    No, journalists allowed into the country do not count, as they only get to report what the regime allows them to.

    Iran is not the US or Europe, and you won't see much of reality if you only accept it on a silver-platter.

    Do actual eye-witnesses count, at least?

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  • [+] 2 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    However, so far, the attacks of the US and Israel against Iran have been very precise and only legitimate military targets and personnel have been hit. Soon into the 12 day war Iranian civilians realized how precise the attacks were and were not afraid of going out. Instead, the attacks have been celebrated.

    Was this verified by independent sources?

    There's been leaks from the IRGC that the plan was to attack its own people in the case of a US or Israeli attack.

    So you want independent verification of some incidents but leaks are fine as long as it aligns with your bias?

    Are you aware of your hypocrisy?

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    However, so far, the attacks of the US and Israel against Iran have been very precise and only legitimate military targets and personnel have been hit.

    For that to be true, you're gonna have to discount all this (more pending):

    • school staff eye-witnesses speak of the strike, including of rescue efforts that match Revolutionary Guard footage shared on telegram.
    • factchecking service used by major news org verifies video of the site-post impact.
    • reuters verifies the same video
    • Journalist in Iran aljazeera trusts enough to use his reporting ON IRAN, says there is more verification beyond the governmental statements.

    Honestly, I shouldn't even be listing these, when they are almost as concisely available in the linked updates.

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  • [+] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)
  • [–] [S] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 child)

    I apologize, and thank you for your patience. I didn't quite get your point about origin of strike.

    It sounds pretty damn dodgy to me. But, yes, there is no verification of the strike's origins to my knowledge.

    Actually there is at least some verifying material:

    From the last image of the Factmeh presentation

    A map of the "Asef Guards Barracks" area shows that the Shajareh Tayyebeh IRGC Navy Girls' School is located within the compound.

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  • [+] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago

    We have the same evidence, I can't really add anything concrete to it.

    What's your point? That it's more likely this was a self-sabotage? Or that it's still a possibility? Without concrete evidence, I don't know. And I don't really wanna theorize, but having focused on this story, I care about the girls and the people at the school and their relatives. They are not just numbers. So I've thought about this a bit as well.

    If they [the aggressors] missed that there is a fucking school with very young school girls as part of the compound, then it's an intelligence failure and still the aggressor's responsibility to have caused this tragedy through their shit senseless offensive. And if they did know, they failed a moral test by attack anyway.

    I don't accept that they needed to kill them as part of war strategies. Expect some damn accountability. That includes if Iran self-struck, but even that, as you claim being a rumoured strategy, is also something the aggressors should've known about.

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