UN tells US to swiftly finish probe into ‘visceral’ Iran school bombing

The deadly bombing of an Iranian school spurred “visceral horror”, the UN rights chief said Friday, urging Washington to conclude its investigation and demanding justice “for the terrible harm done”.

Speaking at the start of an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council focused on the February 28 strike on an Iranian junior school in Minab on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Volker Turk said that “whatever differences countries have, we can all agree they will not be solved by killing schoolchildren”.

The bombing “evoked a visceral horror”, Turk told the UN’s top rights body.

“The images of bombed-out classrooms and grieving parents showed clearly who pays the highest price for war: civilians with no power in the decisions that led to conflict,” he said.

“In this case, a reported 168 pupils, teachers, school staff, and their loved ones.”

A US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake, according to the preliminary findings of a US military investigation reported by The New York Times.

In a video address to the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the school bombing was a “calculated” assault by the US.