Iran Says US, Israel Committed Genocide in Iran

(MENAFN) Iran has leveled accusations of genocide against the United States and Israel, charging that the deliberate destruction of schools and educational institutions across the country constitutes a systematic campaign of illegal warfare, as the death toll from over a month of strikes climbs past 1,340.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Wednesday in a post on X that more than 600 schools and educational facilities have been struck in US-Israeli attacks over the past month alone — among them the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab, where more than 160 children were killed.

"This is not an isolated act of cruelty – it is part of a systematic and brutal pattern of illegal warfare against Iran," Baqaei wrote. "The term 'war crime' falls far short of adequately describing these atrocities. Given the explicit rhetoric of hostility toward Iranians (as a nation) expressed by US/Israeli officials, these crimes amount to genocide."

A War Launched on February 28
The conflict erupted on February 28 with sweeping strikes on Iranian urban centers. Among the first targets was the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab — a strike that claimed at least 175 lives, over 160 of them children. In its immediate aftermath, American and Israeli officials offered contradictory denials, with US President Donald Trump going so far as to suggest the attack was "done by Iran."

The Pentagon has since launched a formal investigation, and reports indicate that internal findings have already confirmed American responsibility for the strike — carried out using what officials described as "outdated targeting data" that misidentified the school as part of an adjacent military compound.

On the same day, a school and sports hall in the southern city of Lamerd were also struck, killing at least 21 people. An investigation by The New York Times, drawing on footage analysis and testimony from weapons experts, concluded the Lamerd attack was conducted by the US military using the previously untested Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) — a munition that detonates above its target and scatters tungsten pellets across a wide radius.

Global Condemnation — and Institutional Silence
While the Lamerd strike received minimal international attention, the Minab school massacre triggered a wave of outrage from world leaders. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the US and Israel for "cruelty, cynicism, and dehumanization." Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez both declared solidarity with the victims of the "massacre."

Yet despite the scale of civilian casualties, both the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to pass formal resolutions condemning the strikes — a diplomatic deadlock that Tehran and its allies have sharply criticized.

Trump Claims War Is "Nearing Completion" — Tehran Rejects Terms
Speaking Wednesday, President Trump declared the war is "nearing completion," while simultaneously threatening to escalate airstrikes over the coming two to three weeks unless Iran's leadership surrenders to Washington's demands.

Tehran showed no signs of yielding. Baqaei disclosed that Iran had received back-channel messages through intermediaries indicating American willingness to negotiate, but dismissed the overtures as "unrealistic, illogical and excessive." Iranian officials insisted the country would bring the conflict to a close strictly on its own terms, while accusing Washington of deliberately undermining earlier rounds of diplomacy.

Iran has responded to the ongoing air campaign with drone and missile strikes against Israeli targets and US military installations across the Middle East, as both sides show little indication of an imminent ceasefire.

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