Iran has tied the US strike on a wedding gathering in Sirik to the earlier Minab school bombing. Tehran says both attacks show civilian deaths must be pursued through legal and political channels.
Iran has linked the US attack on a wedding gathering in Sirik County to the earlier killing of schoolchildren in Minab, with administration spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani saying Washington must be held accountable for civilian deaths.
Mohajerani told Iran’s IRNA that the recent attack on Kohestak Port in southern Hormozgan Province could not be viewed separately from the bombing of Shajareh Tayyabeh Primary School in Minab, which Iranian authorities say killed nearly 170 people, mostly schoolchildren.
“In Kohestak, Sirik, a family had gathered to celebrate the beginning of a young couple’s life,” Mohajerani said in a note published by an Iranian Farsi-language newspaper on Saturday. She said the US attack turned the wedding celebration into a scene of destruction and mourning within moments.
The US targeted the wedding gathering in Kohestak Port on Wednesday evening as part of its latest attacks on Iran following Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran closed the strategic waterway on March 2, describing the move as a self-defence measure, three days after the US and Israel launched their latest military offensive against Iran.
Mohajerani said the Sirik attack and the Minab school bombing were connected by the civilian nature of the victims, arguing that ordinary people were being killed away from battlefields while going about their daily lives.
“Sirik cannot be viewed separately from Minab,” she said, recalling images of school desks left behind after the Minab attack. She criticised Washington’s claims of using precision weapons while, according to her, refusing to accept responsibility for civilian casualties.
Mohajerani said that even if an attack were described as a mistake, those responsible for launching the military operation remained legally and morally accountable for its consequences.
The Iranian government considers the deaths of civilians in Sirik and Minab violations of humanitarian principles and international law, she said, adding that Tehran would pursue the cases through legal and political channels.
Mohajerani also called on the international community and international institutions to avoid what she described as double standards over civilian casualties.
“Silence in the face of the killing of children and attacks on homes and schools will only serve to normalise violence,” she said.
She concluded that Sirik and Minab would remain symbols of the suffering of the Iranian people and evidence of what Tehran considers US responsibility for the attacks.
