GENEVA: The UN rights chief urged Washington to conclude its investigation into a fatal strike on a primary school in Iran at a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Friday, with some states voicing outrage over the incident.
The emergency debate at the Geneva council was called by Iran to discuss the attack on the Shajjareh Tayyebeh School which Tehran says killed more than 175 children and teachers on the first day of the nearly month-long regional war which began with joint US-Israeli strikes. Reuters reported on March 5 that US military investigators believed it was likely that US forces were responsible but have not yet reached a final conclusion or completed their investigation. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe. Israel has also said it was investigating the incident.
UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk called for Washington to conclude its probe as soon as possible and publish the results.
“There must be justice for the terrible harm done,” he said by video link after meetings with US officials in Washington this week.
The Israeli and US diplomatic missions to the United Nations in Geneva did not immediately respond to further questions about the incident and the status of their investigations.
Their seats were empty as both have disengaged from the body, alleging an anti-Israel bias.
“This atrocity cannot be justified, cannot be concealed, and must not be met with silence and indifference,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the council by video link.
Araghchi said “more than 175 students and teachers were slaughtered in cold blood” in a “calculated, phased assault.”
The strike, he said in a video address, “was a war crime and a crime against humanity, one that demands unequivocal condemnation by all, and unambiguous accountability for the culprits.”
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Bilal Ahmad said the death of school children was unconscionable while China’s ambassador Jia Guide said he was deeply shocked.
“(It) is a breach of the bottom line of human morality, the most egregious violation of human rights and (shows) blatant contempt for IHL (international humanitarian law),” China’s Jia said.
Numerous other countries said they were appalled while also drawing attention to Iran’s own human rights violations during mass protests against Iranian authorities in January.
Others condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes since the war began on February 28, 2026 which include attacks against Israel, US bases and Gulf states which were discussed by the council earlier this week.
A bereaved mother, Mohaddeseh Fallahat, also addressed the 47-member council, calling for justice “so that the world knows that children’s lives are not worthless.”
