UN Human Rights Chief Asks US for Transparency on SD Attack Investigation in Iran

JAKARTA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) on Friday stressed the need for an "impartial investigation" into the attack on a school in Iran, urging the United States to act "very quickly" with the announced investigation.

Iran blamed Israel and the United States for an attack on a girls' elementary school in the Iranian city of Minab on the first day of last Saturday's war, with more than 150 people killed.

Neither the US nor Israel has said they were behind the attack, although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday the Pentagon was investigating the incident.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk condemned the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls' School in Minab City as a "truly tragic incident."

"What we are asking for is a quick, transparent, and impartial investigation, which we understand has been announced by the United States," he told reporters in Geneva, launching Al Arabiya from AFP (6/3).

"We need this to happen very quickly and we also need to ensure accountability and compensation for victims," he said.

More Turk said there were "significant concerns about respect for international humanitarian law, particularly the conduct of hostilities (and) the precautions, discrimination and proportionality that are taken."

Regarding schools, he said, it is "clearly a civilian institution that should never be attacked."

"Then there are questions about the type of weapon used, as well as the time," he said, pointing out that the attack "occurred in the morning", at a time when children were most likely to be at school.

"These factors need to be taken into account," he said.

"There are terrible and tragic lessons to be learned when girls are killed in this way," Turk said.

The UN Human Rights Chief added that he hopes "there will not only be guarantees that similar incidents will not happen again, but also a review of all standard operating procedures related to this kind of problem."

Turk said his office so far has only had a few details, as it has no presence in Iran, and the ongoing internet blackout is making it increasingly difficult to obtain information.

"The responsibility now really lies with those who carried out this attack to conduct this kind of investigation," he said.

"We expect accountability to be upheld," Turk said.