Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls' Elementary School

Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School was located in Minab, a city in Hormozgan province in southern Iran, approximately 90 kilometers east of Bandar Abbas. The school served girls between the ages of 7 and 12.

Location and Adjacency

The school’s defining geographic characteristic was its proximity to the Sayyid al-Shuhada IRGC naval base — one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ coastal military facilities in Hormozgan province. The adjacency of the civilian school to the military installation is the central fact of the Minab school bombing investigation. The two structures were distinct and distinguishable on commercially available satellite imagery. The school’s function as an educational facility was a matter of public record.

Minab sits inland from the Strait of Hormuz coastline, in the eastern part of Hormozgan province. The city serves as a regional administrative center with a population drawn from the surrounding agricultural communities. The school served the local population — ordinary families in a mid-sized Iranian city, far from the strategic assets that defined the broader conflict geography.

February 28, 2026

On the morning of February 28, 2026 — the first day of Operation Epic Fury — the school was in session. Between approximately 10:00 and 10:45 AM Iran Standard Time, witnesses reported three distinct strikes in the area. A US Tomahawk cruise missile struck the school, killing between 168 and 180 people and injuring approximately 95. The dead were overwhelmingly children — girls in their classrooms — along with teachers and school staff.

The strike was subsequently confirmed as a US Tomahawk through independent forensic investigations by Bellingcat, BBC Verify, the New York Times, and NBC News. Missile fragments bearing American manufacturer markings were recovered from the site. The US is the only conflict participant that operates Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Significance

The school became the most recognized symbol of civilian harm in the US-Iran conflict. Its name — Shajareh Tayyebeh, meaning “the good tree” in Arabic, a Quranic reference — was invoked in protests, UN statements, and media coverage worldwide. UNESCO condemned the attack on an educational facility. The OHCHR called for an independent investigation.

The site is central to multiple ongoing investigations: the Pentagon’s preliminary inquiry into targeting procedures (which found outdated targeting data as the root cause), the separate investigation into AI-assisted targeting systems, and international calls for independent accountability mechanisms. Every major thread of the conflict’s legal, moral, and political consequences traces back to this location.