Students in Iran returned to schools and universities on Wednesday after months of closures due to the war with the United States, which has seen significant attacks, including an attack on the first day of the conflict that hit a school and killed about 150 people. Parents walked hand in hand with their daughters, wearing headscarves and mandatory 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 United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran. that started the war, on February 28. It was in that first wave of attacks that a school in the southern city of Minab was attacked, leaving 120 children among the dead. A preliminary U.S. assessment not long after determined that U.S. forces were “probably” responsible for the attack, although the school was not deliberately targeted. In Minab on Wednesday, Iran’s vice president of science and technology, Hossein Afshin, rang a bell at another primary school to signal the start of the new semester. The ringing of bells, usually carried out by Iran’s president, is part of traditional celebrations to welcome Iran’s 16.5 million children back to school. Two days earlier this year, a ceremony was held in which Masoud Pezeshkian participated, before leaving for the United Nations General Assembly in New York. conflict. “This pain will guide our minds toward the true nature of the conflict between good and evil,” the statement said.CBS/AFP
