The Global Story: Iran school strike: Will the truth come out?

**Asma Khalid** (0:00)
Hey there, this is Asma Khalid in Washington DC.

**Justin Redman** (0:03)
And I'm Justin Redman in London, and we're the hosts of the Global Story Podcast. We're bringing you our best episode from this week.

**Asma Khalid** (0:10)
And for those of you all that might be new to our show, we here at The Global Story dive deep every weekday on one big story that looks at where the world and America meet.

**Justin Redman** (0:21)
Every one of our episodes is about the interplay between the United States and the rest of the planet, how Trump's presidency is shaping the world and how China is rising to challenge the United States.

**Asma Khalid** (0:32)
That's right, and how the rest of the world is struggling to find its place around the superpower nations. To hear more, you can find us every weekday by searching for The Global Story wherever you get your podcasts. Now, on to today's show.
This summer, we're returning to some of the big, unresolved stories of this year. And one of the stories that we keep talking about on our team happened on Saturday, February 28th, in the opening hours of the first day of the U.S.-Israel War.
There was an attack in the south of Iran, in the city of Minhab, a missile hit an elementary school, killing 120 children. It was the deadliest civilian attack of this war to date. Experts say the evidence indicates it was American forces that hit the school, though the US government has not admitted responsibility. It's been five months now since that deadly strike, and if you're here in the US., you may have heard very little about the school since it was first hit. But in Iran, the school is in some ways the story of this war. The faces of the little kids who were killed are plastered around the country. Their memory is a constant presence. From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. And welcome to The Global Story, our show about where the world and America meet. And today on the show, the BBC visits Iran and the ruins of that school.
Coming up, we'll hear from our colleague, Tom Bateman, who covers the US. State Department. He has been trying for months to get answers from the US government about the school strike. But first, I spoke to Nawal Al Maghafi, the BBC's senior international investigations correspondent who's just returned from a big reporting trip traveling across Iran. Nawal reported from Iran on condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian service. These restrictions apply to all international media organizations operating in Iran.

**Nawal Al Maghafi** (2:33)
So we went in via Turkey and then we traveled about 15 hours into Tehran. And then from Tehran, we took this train journey, and it took us through some of the most strategic points in Iran. We passed by Netanz and Fordow, the two main nuclear sites. One of the stops was Qom, and from there to Bandar Abbas, which is where...

**Asma Khalid** (2:55)
And Qom is the religious Shia center, is that correct?

**Nawal Al Maghafi** (2:58)
Exactly. And then from there, we went to Bandar Abbas, which is where the Strait of Hormuz is. We are right at the heart of the Strait of Hormuz, and behind me is an international ship that's been captured by the Iranians. And from Bandar Abbas, we then went to Minarb, which is the site of one of the most significant attacks in this war, a school in which 156 people were killed, 120 of them children.

**Asma Khalid** (3:23)
And what did you go there, Nawal, hoping to find out?

**Nawal Al Maghafi** (3:26)
The war broke out, and I had been speaking to the authorities asking for a visa. And it took us a couple of months, but it seemed like as soon as we said we wanted to go visit the school in Minarb, that expedited things. You know, they were like, okay, you can get a visa right away. You know, send over your paperwork. They put a date for us to arrive in Iran. And things were in motion. But, you know, it's obviously the authorities steer you to go and see places that they feel like will benefit them.

**Asma Khalid** (3:59)
Why is it your sense that the Iranian authorities were keen for you to visit? You say that they were open to it and sort of expedited your visa.

**Nawal Al Maghafi** (4:07)
Well, firstly, let's just talk about February 28 You know, that was quite a huge, significant day in the war. That's when the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, right? And that was Washington and Israel's way of saying, look, we've already killed the Supreme Leader of this regime within the first day of the war. But on that very same day, the biggest civilian death toll of this war that we know of happened. The Iranian regime, their point of view is Washington and Israel have sold you this war that it's only going to target militants and military sites, but no, they're also killing civilians. They're killing our children. And for many Iranians on the ground, especially those who were welcoming of this intervention because they thought it would topple the regime quite quickly. What happened in Minar made them rethink how they felt. I'm not talking about everyone, but quite a lot of people we spoke to say, we thought that this intervention would topple the regime immediately, but we didn't quite understand the human cost. I mean, wherever you go in Iran, these children's photos are kind of plastered on billboards. Every single person we spoke to, even without prompting them, spoke to us about Minar and how they felt about it, whether they were with the regime or whether they were against the regime. And we spoke to a lot of people off camera who are against the regime and still said that was devastating. And so it's worked for them to make that case. But for us, I knew that's why they really wanted to take us to the school.