TEHRAN – Jean Arnault, the UN special envoy, has said the international community has not remained indifferent to the Minab school tragedy that occurred by the US and the Zionist regime of Israel, saying that the genocide will be recorded in history.

On February 28, the US launched a missile attack to Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the city of Minab, southern Hormozgan province, massacring almost 170 people, mainly students aged seven to twelve. 

Arnault has paid a visit to Iran to witness the war crimes committed by the aggressors against the country over the past 40 days.

Holding a meeting with the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), Pirhossein Kolivand, Arnault said, “The world hears your voice.”

Lauding the IRCS efforts, henoted, “The performance of your colleagues is a clear sign of sacrifice, carried out under extremely dangerous conditions over the past five weeks.

You have certainly seen and felt that the international community has not remained indifferent to this tragedy. Public opinion in many countries, reflected in numerous surveys, has condemned this war and regards its consequences as extremely grave,” he added.

“Due to the crimes committed and the hardships suffered by women and children as a result of this war, our colleagues in Iran and at the United Nations are making significant efforts to bring this war to an end,” the official emphasized.

For his part, Kolivand called on the UN envoy to be the voice of the suffering of the Iranian nation, and take actions to uphold the rights of those who have lost their lives in this war.

Elaborating on the latest report on the damage inflicted on civilian areas and facilities, Kolivand statedthat,  “So far, six weeks into this war, 857 schools and educational facilities, 338 hospitals, clinics, and emergency centers, 49 relief logistics facilities, 43 ambulances, 20 Red Crescent centers, and three Red Crescent helicopters have been hit by missiles, damaged, or destroyed.”

During the aggressions, four aid workers were killed and many others were injured while carrying out searchand rescue, and relief missions for the affected people during humanitarian operations in this war, he added.

The official went on to say that “you are well-aware of the laws that, under all circumstances, prohibit attacks on these areas and classify targeting them as war crimes. Yet those who enact these laws are the very ones who violate them.”

The IRCS, as an independent institution, has submitted and reported its documentation and observations of these crimes to the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and all relevant international bodies, he further noted.

The official presented a map of the targets struck in civilian, residential, and commercial areas, along with videos showing Red Crescent rescuers saving people trapped under the rubble, to the UN Special Envoy.

Sharing a video of consecutive airstrike explosions near Khatam al-Anbiya Hospital in Tehran, which depicted the panic of patients and the efforts of nurses and medical staff to evacuate them and transfer newborns out of the hospital, Kolivand stated that at the time of these attacks, 21 patients were simultaneously undergoing cardiac surgery, and 16 operating rooms were active, and that the hospital sustained damage comparable to a 7.5-magnitude earthquake.

“How long should international organizations remain silent in the face of these crimes? We provided humanitarian assistance under these conditions. Who can challenge these documents? I ask you, since you have come here and are witnessing these events first-hand, to awaken the consciences of the world and fulfill your legal responsibilities, as well as those of other organizations.”

Indiscriminate warfare is indefensible and incompatible with law

Meanwhile, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, in a statement on hostilities in Middle East, has underlined that indiscriminate warfare is indefensible and incompatible with law.

Deliberate threats, whether in rhetoric or in action, against essential civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities must not become the new norm in warfare.

Any war fought without limits is incompatible with the law. It is indefensible, inhumane and devastating for entire populations.

Across the Middle East, our teams are seeing the destruction of infrastructure essential for civilian life. Power plants, water systems, hospitals, roads, bridges, homes, schools, universities have come under fire.

Most alarming are potential threats to nuclear facilities. Any miscalculation can cause irreversible consequences for generations to come.

I urgently call on parties to spare civilians and civilian objects in all military operations. It is their obligation under international humanitarian law.

States must respect and ensure respect for the rules of war in both what they say and what they do. The world cannot succumb to a political culture that prioritizes death over life.