Nearly three months have passed since a U.S. airstrike obliterated an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab, but the families of the more than 120 students killed in that incident are still struggling to come to terms with their tragic loss.
The February 28 attack on the Shajarah Tayyebeh school marked the onset of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Now a solemn memorial site, the building's shattered walls and scattered debris stand as a haunting testament to the young lives lost there.
Beyond the wreckage and the funerals, the parents and siblings left behind are trying to navigate their grief.
In the crushing silence of his daughter's bedroom, the father of a girl named Setayesh, who was killed during the strike, recalled how the news shattered his world. The memories, he said, still torment the family.
"When they said the school had been hit, I felt something shift inside me. I dropped everything and ran out into the street. There were no cars available to take me, so I hopped on a motorbike. Halfway there, the rider dropped me off, and I had to start running because it was impossible to get through by car—the traffic was completely paralyzed and everything was in chaos. When I finally arrived, I saw that there was nothing there, and I just kept calling out Setayesh's name," he said.
The loss has carved a void in their home that nothing can fill. Setayesh's mother recounted the agonizing moment when she identified her daughter's body.
"At 5 o'clock the next morning, I left the house and went to the school. They told me, 'Do not look for her; Setayesh has been martyred.' I did not know what to do. I went to the morgue to identify her. The first one was not Setayesh, the second one was not, the third was not, and the fourth was not either—but the fifth one was Setayesh," she recalled.
For Setayesh's older sister, the bond they once shared has been violently severed, leaving only memories of a life cut tragically short.
"I miss her so much, and I always will. I wish I could hear her voice or see her just one more time, to have her joke around with me again. I am six years older than her, but I used to play with her all the time," she said.
Family of student killed in Minab school strike still mourns
