The US Tomahawk missiles left nothing of his small, fragile body. His parents are left to wait for a son who will never return, with only a wrinkled blue sweater and a pair of cream-colored sneakers to hold; a devastating testament to the reality of a war of aggression – a reality known only to those who must bear its cost.
The deadly US strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school on the first day of the imposed war, February 28, is known as the most heinous massacre of innocent children in the world, killing at least 168 school children, mainly girls aged between 7 and 12. Large parts of the school building were destroyed while classes were underway.
Subsequent to the tragic event, most children’s bodies, with some being torn into pieces, were recovered and buried, all except for that of Makan.
Just a single sneakers, an empty grave
His crushed blood-stained blue sweater, and a single cream-colored sneakers are the things found over the past forty-six days; no other single thing was remained of him. All his belongings are placed within a small glass box in a mosque in his neighborhood.
Among the hundreds of graves of the Minab elementary school’s victims, there lies an empty grave, created in honor of Makan, who was declared missing as his body was not found after a 46-day search under the school’s rubble.
It was 11:16 in the morning. Asieh Rahinejad, Makan’s mom, was doing household chores, when the phone rang. Makan’s teacher, Ms. Mandana Salari, was on the phone. She asked Asieh to pick Makan up from school immediately, as the enemies attacked the school.
Asieh, totally unaware of the earlier attack in Tehran on the same day, called the school bus driver. The man who happened to be near the school promised to go there at once.
She was still holding the phone when she heard a terrible explosion. The school was bombed severely. Asieh, along with her husband, who was home on that day, rushed to school.
School reduced to rubble
Makan’s parents got off the car and ran towards the school. The bombs had already levelled the school buildings. There was total chaos. There were people everywhere. Makan’s mom was wondering what to do, and where to go to look for his son.
“As we arrived at school, many were under the rubble, but no single child stayed alive. We stayed there from 11.30 a.m. till 2.30 a.m. The lifeless bodies were pulled out of rubble. Few were suffocated to death. Most were dismembered. In the first 38 days, we went to forensic medicine department every day to identify the martyred students, but we couldn’t find Makan.
We took DNA test to help find the body of our son. There were only his books and notebooks. No piece of his body, no bag, and not even his shoes were found. On the 38th day, my brother found a single sneaker that belonged to my dear son.”
On February 28, the day that the school was targeted, Hamzeh Rahinejad, Makan’s uncle, went to school. The air was filled with smoke, dust, and the smell of burning bodies.
“Since the very beginning of the incident till 5 a.m., along with many others who were helping to locate the lost loved children, I was searching to find something from Makan.
The worst atrocities of war
As we removed pieces of rocks, we could only find small pieces of torn hands, legs, and heads of the innocent kids. It was like a nightmare, the worst atrocities of the war. I cannot put it in words. It was even more saddening than the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) and his loyal companions in the battle of Karbala. I think it was much worse.
From the second day into school bombardment, we formed a 20-member team of uncles and their children to look for Makan. We even searched the jungle in the vicinity of the school. I carried a gauze bandage and a plastic bag with me, and take any piece of flesh or finger found under the rubble.
Makan, like his other family members, had a birthmark on his body, something like a mole that would get more colored in winter. Now, I was searching for such a thing, but he seemed to be vanished.
Till the 38th day of our search, we were hopeful that we could find him alive. That day, I went back to the scene. About a 100 meter away from the destroyed buildings, there among the trees of a garden, I found some bags and shoes, put them all inside a box and took it to my sister’s house.
The house was full of people. I asked Asieh if any of those things belonged to Makan. The sight of a cream sneaker made her faint. It was like a doomsday scenario, the major calamity of the brutally targeted elementary school.”
In reaction to Makan’s tragic martyrdom, government spokesperson, Fatemeh Mohajerani, wrote on her X account that “His name was Makan. He was 7. All that remains is a blood-stained sweater and a single shoe. The strike on a school in Minab is not a mistake—it is a clear violation of human rights and children’s rights. No justification can restore a child’s life. Silence is complicit.”
Take revenge for our children
Now, Makan has a symbolic grave in Minab’s martyred graveyard, a memorial in Mahdieh mosque in his family’s neighborhood, and a memorial in Khomeinishahr, his father’s birth place, where, according to Makan’s uncle, a street is going to be named after him.
Asieh goes to the mosque, where Makan’s mementos are put into a glass box. She also visits his empty grave from time to time and cries over his missing beloved son.
Addressing the first memorial ceremony of Minab’s martyred students in Isfahan province, Asieh said: “I was terrified by the idea of having to place Makan in the grave, I couldn’t stand that. I prayed to God for help, and it may explain why we couldn’t find him.”
Speaking on behalf of parents of the 168 martyred students, she just said one sentence, “We want them to take revenge for our children’s massacre.”
Global condemnation
The scale of the tragedy has shocked the international community and sparked widespread condemnation. National and international organizations as well as domestic and foreign officials have forcefully condemned the strike.
“The Minab school incident has no comparison with any other incident,” said the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society. “Even in Gaza,” Pirhossein Kolivand added, there had not been such a high number of students killed simultaneously. He also called the attack “a unique and bitter incident.”
The United Nations cultural and education agency, UNESCO, condemned the strike, saying in a statement on social media on Sunday: “The killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law.”
International law is clear on protecting civilians
International law is clear on the protection of civilians and educational institutions during armed conflict. Intentionally attacking a school, hospital, or other civilian infrastructure is a war crime, and indiscriminate strikes also violate the law.
Even if schools are used for military purposes, the law requires armed parties to take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimize harm to civilians, as emphasized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These rules are codified in the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law, which explicitly prohibit targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who has campaigned for the right of young girls to go to school, condemned the Minab attack on social media: “They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future. Today, their lives were brutally cut short.
I am heartbroken and appalled by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, including reports that a girls’ school in southern Iran was hit, resulting in the injury and death of many girls. The killing of civilians, especially children, is unconscionable, and I condemn it unequivocally.
My heart is with the children, families, and communities affected by escalation across the region. I stand firmly against violence and the targeting of schools and civilians. I call for the escalation of violence across the region to end. Justice and accountability must follow. All states and parties must uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools.”
The killing of students in Minab resonates against a backdrop of repeated attacks on schools in conflict zones globally. Israel, in particular, has carried out strikes on schools in Gaza during the Gaza war, which started in October 2023.
Reports from international human rights organizations documented multiple incidents in which schools sheltering civilians were hit, leaving children and families exposed to severe harm. These attacks have consistently drawn condemnation from the United Nations, NGOs, and legal experts, as attacks on schools constitute violations of international law and fundamental human rights.
Humanitarian commentators and analysts outside Iran have highlighted the school strike as emblematic of the severe civilian toll in the conflict, reiterating the urgent need for accountability, adherence to humanitarian norms, and the protection of children in conflict zones.
They emphasize that such attacks not only violate international law but also erode the moral and legal frameworks that safeguard civilian life worldwide.
Legal experts note that the attack on Shajareh Tayyebah elementary school violates numerous provisions of international humanitarian law. The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians in times of war, and the Additional Protocols explicitly safeguard schools as civilian objects.
The United Nations Security Council, through multiple resolutions, has reaffirmed that attacks on schools and children are unacceptable under any circumstances, urging member states to enforce protections rigorously.
First published by Tehran Times
