Get you up to speed: Iran War Updates: U.S. and Iran hold first talks since June after Trump threatens regime with annihilation
Students in Iran returned to schools and universities on Wednesday after months of closures due to the war with the United States, which included a strike on a school in Minab that killed approximately 120 children. Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, marked the start of the new academic year by ringing a bell at a primary school in Minab.
Classes in Iran resumed on Wednesday for the first time since the conflict began on February 28, with a notable ceremony at a primary school in Minab led by Hossein Afshin, the vice president for science and technology. Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei acknowledged the impact of the conflict on the educational community, highlighting the absence of students and faculty who lost their lives during the war.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei acknowledged the impact of the ongoing conflict, stating that “the absence of some students, professors, and teachers” would be deeply felt due to their deaths in the recent strikes. As schools and universities reopen, Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, rang a bell to commence the new academic year, a traditional gesture to welcome the country’s 16.5 million children back to school.
What remains unclear — It is unclear how the ongoing conflict will affect the long-term educational landscape in Iran.
U.S. and Iran hold first talks since June amid ongoing conflict and school closures
Students in Iran returned to schools and universities Wednesday after months of closures due to the war with the United States, which has seen major attacks including a strike on the first day of the conflict that hit a school, killing about 150 people.
Parents walked hand-in-hand with their daughters, in mandatory headscarves and uniforms, as they arrived at a girls’ primary school in western Tehran for the first day of the new academic year.
Classes were canceled after the U.S. and Israel jointly launched strikes on Iran, igniting the war, on Feb. 28. It was in that first wave of strikes that a school in the southern city of Minab was hit, leaving 120 children among the dead. A preliminary U.S. assessment not long after determined that American forces were “likely” responsible for the strike, though the school was not deliberately targeted.
In Minab on Wednesday, Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, rang a bell at another primary school to signal the start of the new term. The bell-ringing, normally carried out by Iran’s president, is part of traditional celebrations to welcome Iran’s 16.5 million children back to school.
A ceremony featuring Masoud Pezeshkian was held two days early this year, before he left for the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
On Tuesday, a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei addressed the reopening, saying “the absence of some students, professors, and teachers” would be felt, referring to those killed during the conflict.
“This sorrow will guide our minds toward the true nature of the conflict between good and evil,” the statement said.
WTX/AFP