Iran’s parents had just dropped their children off for class on Saturday morning when they found themselves racing back to school gates, as bombs began to fall across the country in a joint US-Israel attack.
At one elementary school, according to Iran’s state-controlled media, they arrived to find devastation. At least 80 children had been killed in the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, the IRNA news agency reported, with dozens more unaccounted for.
In one video circulating on social media, purportedly showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, smoke rises from the burnt-out walls, and debris lies spread across the road. Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site, some in obvious distress. Screams can be heard in the background. The report of the bombing, its death toll and the video’s source could not immediately be independently verified by the Guardian. Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.
The school appears to be adjacent to a Revolutionary Guards barracks. If the death toll is confirmed, the school bombing would be the largest mass casualty event of the US-led attack so far.
Across the country, Iranians said they were feeling a mixture of terror and hope as the bombings continued. Some expressed relief that the long-expected strikes had arrived, and opponents of the regime spoke of hope that they might lead to political change – but both were tempered by fear that the attacks would bring more civilian deaths to a country already reeling from recent bloodshed.
In Tehran, some people sheltered in their homes, while others rushed through gridlocked traffic to find their children as schools shut down. Many said they had been preparing for weeks for a possible war, stockpiling water and supplies.
Amir*, 37, owner of a bakery in Tehran, said he was “relieved” to hear that strikes appeared to have hit government buildings, but feared there would be collateral damage. “My worry is that innocent people will be killed,” he said. Amir had family members injured in the Iranian regime’s recent crackdown on nationwide protests, and feared there was more bloodshed to come. “We have endured so much grief – despite that, we don’t want to see the body bags on the streets due to US and Israeli strikes,” he said.
The attacks came in the middle of diplomatic negotiations between Iran and the US, about seven weeks after Tehran violently crushed nationwide anti-regime demonstrations, with government forces opening fire on unarmed protesters. According to the US-based Human Rights Activist news agency (HRANA), which has been documenting casualties, more than 7,000 people have been confirmed dead in the protests, with more than 11,000 deaths still under investigation.
Some, who had lost friends or family members in the protests, were defiant: Mohsen, 25, an IT worker in Tehran, said: “We do fear that compatriots will be killed [by the US/Israeli strikes], but I have witnessed friends gunned down by the regime – like thousands of us have.
“I don’t really know what we are going to witness. But thanks to the regime and its killing machine, we have already seen what a war zone feels like.”
Moein*, 21, a student at the University of Tehran, said he could hear loud bangs from near the university as the bombs struck.
He was involved in the recent protests and had two friends killed in the crackdown. He said: “We were not in favour of foreign intervention, because we did not want our loved ones to be killed, but the regime has massacred our families anyway. When weapons come from the US, do they strike us more gently than when they come from the regime’s killing machines?”
Moein said that while the city felt apprehensive, it had not plunged into panic. “We have been preparing for war so we have stocked up on essentials,” he said. “As far as I know there are no bomb shelters for us ordinary people.” He and others on the ground said they had been intermittently unable to access state media – although it was not clear whether this was due to cyber-attacks or websites being overwhelmed by traffic.
The war was launched by the US and Israel on Saturday morning, with Donald Trump announcing that he was beginning “major combat operations” against Iran, and urging Iranians to rise up and “take over your government”. The US had built up a significant military presence in the region over recent weeks in preparation for an attack.
“I wasn’t surprised because we were expecting an attack for weeks,” said Mehnaz*, 27, based in Tehran. She was having breakfast when she heard loud explosions about 9am. “We live close to the presidential office and the administrative headquarters of the leader of the government,” she said. The first sets of strikes appeared to hit close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s offices and compound.
Mehnaz said there were mixed feelings, particularly among opponents of the current government. “It’s a strange feeling,” she said. “Both fear and hope for the end of the regime.”
* Names have been changed
