TEHRAN –The music album “Minab’s Angels” was unveiled during a ceremony held at the Tehran's City Theater, on Friday, the eighth day of the "For Iran, the Source of Art" cultural festival.

The album serves as a musical memorial for the young students of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Hormozgan province, who attained martyrdom during a coordinated attack by the United States and Israel. The event, attended by cultural officials and artists, Mehr reported. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Babak Rezai, Director General of the Music Office, stated that the collection features works by prominent pop vocalists including Zanko, Ali Raha, Hatef, Mohammad Fereshtenejad, Reza Rahimian, and Amir Haqiqat. 

"These pieces were crafted by our nation's artists over the past forty days to honor the purity of the students we lost," Rezai noted. He added that the album would be distributed to the public via QR-coded cards during the event and at nightly gatherings across the capital.

The ceremony featured a live performance by pop singer Zanko, who sang "Sleep Peacefully". Addressing the crowd, Zanko emphasized the resilience of the domestic art scene. "We stand here in the cradle of theater and art," he said. "We must not allow foreign networks to dictate our path or decide who we should listen to; the livelihood and passion of many artists are rooted right here on this stage."

In addition to the musical unveiling, the program included a traditional Tazieh (Iranian passion play). The performance was dedicated to the memory of the late Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the martyred schoolchildren. Poetry recitals by Hadi Janfada and Fatemeh Ghiasvand, alongside the screening of short films from the Iranian Youth Cinema Society, further enriched the cultural gathering.

The "For Iran, the Source of Art" event, which began on April 1, continues to host various workshops, art galleries, and performances, aiming to foster national solidarity through the language of art.

On February 28, the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, became the site of a devastating massacre as the United States and Israel initiated their strikes against Iran. 

While dozens of girls and boys aged between 7 and 12 were beginning their lessons, the school was targeted by a missile strike that caused the building to collapse, trapping children and teachers beneath the rubble. Iranian authorities confirmed a final death toll of 168 people, with at least 95 others wounded, marking one of the most harrowing incidents of the conflict's opening day.

Despite attempts by US and Israeli authorities to distance themselves from the carnage as images of the tragedy spread across social media, detailed forensic and digital investigations have painted a starkly different picture. 

An analysis by Al Jazeera’s digital investigations unit, utilizing over a decade of satellite imagery and recent video clips, revealed that the school was a clearly distinct civilian facility, separated from any adjacent military sites for at least ten years. Furthermore, witness accounts and satellite-based analyses confirmed that the school was triple tapped by three separate, deliberate strikes, leaving no doubt about the nature of the attack.

The international community has faced mounting evidence regarding the responsibility for this atrocity, with investigations from major global outlets including The New York Times, BBC Verify, CBC, and NPR all concluding that the United States was responsible for the strike. 

These findings have raised fundamental questions about the intelligence used to justify the bombing, as the patterns of the strike suggest a direct targeting of a civilian educational institution. The Minab school tragedy now stands as a somber testament to the immense human cost of the aggression and a focal point for those demanding international accountability.

SAB/