01
Schools & Educational Institutions
14 documented incidents
- Feb 28 Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, Minab: IHL-Protected Struck three times between 10:23 and 10:45 a.m. on the first morning of the war. After the first missile hit, the principal moved students into a prayer room, which the second strike then hit, killing most of those sheltering inside. 156 people were killed in total (Minab prosecutor, 9 April): 120 students, 26 teachers (all women), 7 parents, a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician, and a six-month-old fetus. Sky News independently verified 146 of the dead by name — the 120 students, aged 6–13, and their 26 teachers. Contrary to widespread early reporting of a girls' school, the majority killed were boys (73 boys, 47 girls). Human Rights Watch verified the attack using 14 videos, photographs, and satellite imagery and called for it to be investigated as a war crime; Bellingcat, BBC Verify, Amnesty International, the NYT, NPR and CBC separately identified US Tomahawk missiles and concluded US responsibility. [Sky News investigation; Human Rights Watch, Mar 7; BBC Verify; Bellingcat]
- Feb 28 Sports Hall, Lamerd: IHL-Protected A strike on this sports facility in southern Iran killed 20 people, including teenage girls during a volleyball session. [Compiled from regional reports]
- Feb 28 Polytechnic University of Tehran (Amirkabir): IHL-Protected Campus and surrounding facilities targeted in the opening wave of 'surprise airstrikes.' [Compiled from news agencies]
- Mar 2 Malek Ashtar University Aerospace Complex, Tehran: IHL-Protected Targeted as part of a coordinated wave of strikes against military-affiliated research centers. [Wikipedia – 2026 Iran War]
- Mar 4 Esmat Girls' High School, Urmia: IHL-Protected The school building on 22 Behman Street in the Darachay district of Urmia was completely destroyed by a strike at approximately 2:00 a.m. No casualties were reported, and the hour makes it very likely the building was empty — unlike the Minab school, this was the destruction of a protected civilian object rather than a mass-casualty attack, and the record should not conflate the two. Note that Iranian forces are reported to have relocated personnel into schools in the Kurdish region ahead of strikes, which is relevant to assessing this target. [Caspian Post; Wikipedia – Timeline of the 2026 Iran war]
- Mar 5 Two schools, Parand (SW Tehran): IHL-Protected Tasnim News Agency and local media reported missiles struck two schools in the town of Parand. [Al Jazeera, Mar 5]
- Mar 9–10 University Street & Higher Education Hubs, Tehran: IHL-Protected Intense urban bombing damaged buildings around the main University of Tehran campus. [Compiled from news agencies]
- Mar 21 Malek Ashtar University of Technology (Tehran branch): IHL-Protected Israel announced a strike, claiming the university housed nuclear-weapons component R&D — a claim not substantiated by the IAEA. The institution is civilian under Iranian law and was severely damaged. [HRIUI; Wikipedia]
- Mar 24 Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Shahin Shahr: IHL-Protected Targeted alongside production sites in Isfahan province, near the submarine R&D center. [Wikipedia – 2026 Iran War]
- Mar 25 Shahid Motahari Applied Scientific Education Center, NE Tehran: IHL-Protected Targeted in Imam Khomeini Town, northeast Tehran. [Compiled from regional sources]
- Mar 28 Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran: IHL-Protected Verified strikes on the Physics Department and advanced research laboratories. U.S. Central Command confirmed the university was among the targets. [Wikipedia – 2026 Iran War]
- Mar 29 University of Isfahan (second strike): IHL-Protected Hit by US-Israeli air raids for the second time since the war began. Four university staff members were wounded. [Al Jazeera]
- Apr 4 Laser & Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran: IHL-Protected Bombed at around 16:00 local time by two projectiles. The women's dormitory complex was extensively damaged, and the men's dormitory and adjacent buildings were also affected. No casualties — the campus had emptied after the government moved all classes online. [Al Jazeera; Science/AAAS]
- Apr 6 Sharif University of Technology, Tehran: IHL-Protected Known as 'Iran's MIT,' the university was hit by a bunker-buster bomb, extensively damaging the data center, mosque, and laboratories. A fuel station on campus was also hit, causing an explosion and petrol shortage in the surrounding neighborhood. Iran's Vice President condemned the attack. The university, founded in 1966, is ranked among the world's top 100 in several engineering disciplines. Iran's Ministry of Science reported at least 30 universities hit since the war began. [Al Jazeera, Apr 6]
Summary:By the April 8 ceasefire, UNICEF reported 760+ schools and educational facilities damaged or destroyed; the OHCHR Fact-Finding Mission counted 29 universities affected, and Iran's Ministry of Science reported 30+ universities directly attacked, with 5 professors and 60+ students killed. Iran's Ministry of Education reported 237 students and 56 educators killed in the first 33 days. The targeting escalated from primary schools (Day 1) to elite scientific institutions — Sharif University's supercomputing center, the Pasteur Institute, and Tofigh Daru. The Minab school strike of Day 1 remains the war's defining civilian atrocity: 156 killed, of whom Sky News verified 146 by name. A US 15-6 investigation attributed it to outdated Defense Intelligence Agency coordinates, and CNN reported on 7 July that intelligence systems had flagged the targeting data as outdated and were ignored. UNESCO and Human Rights Watch have condemned the attacks as potential violations of international humanitarian law. [UNICEF, Apr 7; OHCHR; Sky News; CNN, Jul 7]