Heydar Sadeghi Returns to the Rubble in Minab
In the southern Iranian city of Minab, Heydar Sadeghi spends his evenings sitting on a bench next to the shattered concrete of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school. According to reporting from the Associated Press, an American airstrike on February 28—marking the first day of the war on Iran—destroyed the building and killed dozens of children and teachers. Sadeghi lost his 11-year-old grandson, Hami, and the boy’s mother, Neda Salehizadeh, in the blast. A banner strung around the wreckage displays the faces of the victims as families grapple with the sudden loss.
The February 28 bombing flattened the multi-level facility, which housed a girls’ school on the upper floor and a boys’ school and preschool on the ground floor. Iranian state media reported a death toll of 168 people, primarily children, while an Associated Press investigation confirmed that at least one U.S. missile struck the complex. The Trump administration has yet to directly accept blame or release the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the bombing.
Daily Rituals of Mourning and the Struggle to Heal
For Sadeghi, the morning of the strike followed a familiar routine. He drove Hami, his 9-year-old granddaughter Nila, and their mother to the school, expecting to pick them up at 1 p.m. Instead, the explosions tore through the neighborhood. “The bell was rung early—by Trump,” Sadeghi told the Associated Press, capturing the bitter resentment felt by survivors.
While Hami’s body was so severely mangled that relatives could identify him only by his clothing, Nila was pulled alive from the wreckage. Physically uninjured, she struggles with severe psychological trauma. She now lives with Sadeghi and his wife, frightened by the slightest unexpected noise and unable to sleep through the night. To help Nila find moments of normalcy, Sadeghi invites her friends to stay over. When he returns from his evening vigils at the ruined school, he tries to mask his own heartbreak, telling the Associated Press, “I come here and cry. Then I go home and dance in front of the girl.”
Transforming Destruction Into a Permanent Memorial
The physical remnants of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school are gradually transitioning into a solemn historical site. The governor of Hormozgan province announced that the damaged structure will be preserved as a war museum and memorial. Many of the victims were local children from Minab, an area populated predominantly by members of Iran’s Baluch ethnic minority, while others were children of officers stationed at an adjacent Revolutionary Guard base.
A banner erected at the site documents the toll: 120 students—47 girls and 73 boys—along with 26 teachers and staff members. Three additional children remain presumed dead after search teams failed to recover their bodies. Every evening, government-sponsored mourning ceremonies draw relatives and out-of-town visitors to the site, where speakers recount the events of the attack in graphic detail.
A Dedicated Resting Place in Minab’s Cemetery
Beyond the school grounds, Minab’s cemetery features a dedicated section for those killed in the strike. Each grave displays a photograph of the deceased, sheltered beneath an overhead shade and surrounded by artificial grass designed to offer families a comfortable space to sit and reflect. Visitors frequently leave flowers, prayer beads, and dishes of shuleh-zar as they tend to the graves of their children and educators.
While the Associated Press has documented the devastating impact on civilians, families in Minab are left to navigate the intersection of geopolitical conflict and private grief. As the community preserves the ruined school and tends to the cemetery memorials, the loss on February 28 remains etched into the daily lives of survivors like Sadeghi and young Nila.
