Video: Iran’s footballers honour schoolgirls killed in US-Israel strike in match against Nigeria
Abdullateef Fowewe
Iran’s national football team has paid a tribute to over 100 schoolgirls killed in a US-Israel airstrike, holding small, colourful children’s backpacks aloft during the national anthem before their match against Nigeria on Friday.
Video footage circulating online shows the players, clad in white-and-red kits, standing solemnly in formation on the pitch.
The gesture symbolises grief for the victims of the February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, near an IRGC site, which claimed 165 lives—mostly girls aged 7-12.
The incident has swelled broader war casualties, drawing sharp international reactions.
UN has condemned it as a potential war crime, while US officials probe possible intelligence errors amid claims of embedded military assets near civilian sites.
