Huge crowds gathered in the southern Iranian city of Minab to mourn the deaths of at least 168 children and 14 teachers killed in a US-Israeli attack on a girls' elementary school on Saturday, according to state media.
Some mourners held up photos of the slain children - some as young as 7 - a stark reminder of the human tragedy at the heart of this escalating conflict. Although few details have emerged about the number of people killed in the strikes in Iran, at least 780 people were killed in 153 provinces, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Video and images from the funeral show crowds of mourners reciting prayers around small coffins draped in the Iranian flag.
On Tuesday, UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for a “prompt, impartial and thorough“ investigation into the school strikes, warning that “indiscriminate attacks“ are “serious violations” of international humanitarian law.
This came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US and Israel of killing the children in a post on X on Monday, which was accompanied by an image of freshly dug graves.
„These are graves being dug for the more than 160 innocent young girls killed in the US-Israeli bombing of an elementary school. "Their bodies were torn to pieces," Araghchi said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mark Rubio told reporters on Monday that the US "would not intentionally attack a school."
"The Department of War would investigate this if it were our strike, and I would refer your question to them," he said.
This comes as Israel continues to escalate its strikes on Iran, with images emerging from Tehran on Tuesday of apartment blocks reduced to rubble.