UN body investigating fatal strike on Iranian girls’ school

A woman reaches out to the coffins during a funeral of mostly children killed in what Iranian officials said was an Israeli-U.S. strike Feb. 28, 2026, on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA via AP)

GENEVA - A UN inquiry has ‌started investigating a fatal strike on a ‌primary school on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, one of its members told reporters on Tuesday.

The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School consisted of two missile strikes in quick ​succession that ​killed 168 children, mostly girls, ‌Iranian officials said ⁠in Geneva on Monday.

Reuters reported on March 5 that U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible but have not yet reached ⁠a final conclusion or completed their investigation. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe.

“We’re at an early stage of ⁠that investigation,” Max du Plessis, a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told a Geneva press conference, saying that it had ​credible reports backing Iran’s death toll.

“It’s clear ‌to us that whatever ⁠happens in ⁠respect of such an event, given the innocent lives that have been lost, there ⁠is a critical need for such an investigation to be done and for an independent ‌outcome to follow," he said.

If U.S. fault is confirmed, ⁠it would ‌rank among the worst incidents of civilian deaths in decades of U.S. military strikes in the Middle ‌East.

Reporting by Emma Farge; ‌Additional reporting by ​Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Miranda Murray