Belek [Turkey], March 27 (ANI): Iran's men's national football team made an emotional tribute to the children killed in a recent school bombing in Minab, holding up schoolbags during the national anthem and wearing black armbands before a match against Nigeria on Friday.

Iran was playing a friendly match against Nigeria in the resort town of Belek. The gesture was a symbolic act of remembrance for the young victims of the Elementary Girls' school, which killed over 160 people in the southern Iranian city amid ongoing conflict, according to Press TV.

A girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, was hit during airstrikes linked to the Operation Roaring Lion on February 28, 2026. The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school was destroyed by a missile while students were in class, killing more than 100 people, most of them children.

The attack triggered global condemnation, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation calling it a grave violation of international humanitarian law and urging accountability.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi on Friday slammed the United States and Israel for the attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran. Calling the actions a war crime, he urged the world to come together against the injustice towards Iran and underlined that the country would continue to defend itself as long as needed.

This comes after US-Israeli strikes continue to target key infrastructure in Iran. Earlier, US President Trump signalled a thaw in operations against Iran, saying that Iran had sought a seven-day pause on American strikes targeting its energy infrastructure, but he decided to extend the window to 10 days to April 6, and the strikes by the combined US-Israel forces continue. (ANI)