MEZIESBLOG

Iran’s foreign minister has accused the US and Israel of deliberately bombing Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in a “calculated, phased assault” that killed 168 people.

A preliminary US report found its own forces “likely” struck the school due to old intelligence, but Abbas Araghchi says the US and Israel are armed with the most advanced technology, calling it a “deliberate and intentional” attack.

Donald Trump says he is not certain who attacked the school, after initially blaming Iran itself.

“This atrocity cannot be justified, cannot be concealed and must not be met with silence and indifference,” said Araghchi.

“This barbaric attack is but the visible tip of a far bigger iceberg. One that conceals beneath its surface a far graver catastrophe, namely the normalisation of the most abhorrent violations of human rights and humanitarian law.”

More than 600 schools have been destroyed in Iran, he said.

MEZIESBLOG cannot independently verify these figures.

Three ⁠ships ‘turned back from Strait of Hormuz’ after Iran warning

The Iranian Islamic ‌Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz is closed to allies of the US and Israel.

It threatened “harsh measures” against any ships attempting passage through the crucial waterway for the world’s oil and gas trade.

Three container ⁠ships of ​various nationalities were ​turned back from ​the strait, according to reports.

Iran’s ‘primary’ sea mine and maritime missile production site hit, says Israel

Israel says it has struck Iran’s “primary facility” for missile and sea mine production.

The Israeli Defence Forces says the site in Yazd, central Iran, was used for the development, assembly, and storage of missiles intended for maritime targets.

It’s unclear whether Iran has deployed its sea mines, but they carry enormous potential to damage commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and in turn the world economy.

‘Come pick us up from school’ – final words to mum of children killed in strike on school

The mother of two children killed in the airstrike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School says her heart “burns with pain”.

Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council, she demanded the US and Israel be held to account to show “children’s lives are not worthless”.

A preliminary US report found its own forces “likely” struck the school due to old intelligence. Donald Trump says he is not certain who attacked the school, after initially blaming Iran itself.

“I am not just a grieving mother. I am the voice of all the mothers who sent their children to school believing they would be safe,” she told the council.

“A safe space for children, who were supposed to build the future of this world, not a place where their future is extinguished in an instant.”

She recalled combing Madieh and Amin’s hair and giving them their backpacks on the last morning she saw them, and their final words to her: “Come pick us up from school?”

“That simple sentence now repeats in my mind a thousand times and each time my heart burns with pain.”

She described still feeling the urge to open their bedroom doors and see them sleeping in their beds.

“The truth must be brought to light, and Israel and the US who are the cause of this suffering, must be held accountable. Not for revenge, but for justice, so that the world knows that children’s lives are not worthless.”