Iran on Sunday publicly identified the two US Navy soldiers who were responsible for a missile strike on an elementary school in Minab that claimed the lives of more than 170 people, mostly children, which further soared the tensions between Tehran and Washington. The names and images of the American officials were revealed by Iranian Embassies in South Africa, India and other nations.ย
The Iranian Embassies, in their posts on X (previously Twitter), asked if the US Navy officials don’t have their own children and if they would be able to “sleep at night with this”.
“Remember these two criminals. Leigh R. Tate, the commander, and Jeffrey E. York, the executive officer of the USS Spruance, who ordered the launch of Tomahawk missiles three times, killing 168 innocent children at a school in #Minab,” the post by Iranian Embassies read.
The US has said that thisย strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school were the result of an error. The US media has also defended the officials, with The New York Times saying that the strike was intended for a Iranian military facility near the school, but the error happened due to outdated intelligence data.
However, the Iranian side said they were well ‘calculated’ by America. “At a time when the American-Israeli aggressors, in their own assertions, possess the most advanced technologies, and the highest-precision military and data systems, no one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday, while speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
The United Nations (UN) has now urged the US conclude its probe, saying justice should be done “for the terrible harm done” in these strike. Volker Tรผrk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the onus to investigate this in on those who conducted it, referring to the US, while adding that the probe must be done “promptly, impartially, transparently and thoroughly”.
“The images of bombed-out classrooms and grieving parents showed clearly who pays the highest price for war: civilians with no power in the decisions that led to conflict,” he said.
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