ISTANBUL

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that Washington is “investigating” an airstrike on a girls’ primary school in southern Iran as Iranian authorities say the attack killed 168 students.

“All I can say is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth told reporters when asked about the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in the city of Minab.

He added that the US military “never targets civilian sites.”

Iranian officials say the school was hit Saturday during the first day of joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Minab Governor Mohammad Radmehr said the strike directly hit the school while classes were underway, killing girls aged between 7 and 12. The building was largely destroyed and parts of its concrete roof collapsed onto classrooms.

Iranian state media said that 168 people were killed and at least 95 injured in the attack.

Iran has accused the US and Israel of carrying out the strike, while the Israeli military said it was not aware of any Israeli or US attack in the area.

Israel has previously denied involvement in deadly strikes during other wars before later revising its accounts after further evidence emerged.

According to Iranian media, the names of the students killed in the strike are as follows:

Adrina Pegah
Adrina Sangari
Afsoon Ghasemi
Ala Torkizadeh
Anis Jahangard
Armina Silouri
Armina Silouri
Arezou Badri
Ariana Nemati
Asa Beirami
Asna Dehuei Pour
Ashar Jahanshahi Gaz
Asra Safirian
Atal Ayl Elah Dadi Kouhbanani
Atna Ahmadi Zadeh
Atna Raeisi
Atna Zahedi
Avin Torkmanzadeh
Aylin Mohammadianpour
Aysa Baziyar
Aysa Heydari
Aysa Madastani
Aysa Salari

Bahar Jahangiri
Baran Ghasemi
Benita Moradi

Fadia Shahmiri
Fatemeh Bozorgipour
Fatemeh Farib Zadeh
Fatemeh Jalali
Fatemeh Karimi
Fatemeh Masoumeh Pirami
Fatemeh Mahmoudizadeh
Fatemeh Mohammadi
Fatemeh Moradi
Fatemeh Pendar
Fatemeh Pouralikhani
Fatemeh Rahdar
Fatemeh Rahmani
Fatemeh Rahnama
Fatemeh Sadat Hosseini
Fatemeh Salari
Fatemeh Zahra Abbaszadeh
Fatemeh Zahra Raoufi Nia
Fatemeh Yazdanpanah
Fatemeh Zakeri
Fatima Zayri

Hadis Ranjbari
Hadiseh Khodami
Hadiyeh Zahra Ahmadi
Hana Dehghani
Helen Sadeghi
Helia Angourani
Helma Ghasemi
Hoda Sadat Jafari
Hoda Soltani
Hosna Rahimi

Kimia Salari

Maedeh Zamani
Mahdis Nazari
Mahgol Mollaei Mitavi
Mahna Zarei Kouhestaki
Mahya Salari
Mahel Salar Mirabadi
Malakeh Nejati
Mana Zahedi Dehuei
Mania Nasiri Khouzani
Maryam Barani
Maryam Salari
Masoumeh Anam
Masoumeh Baradaran
Masoumeh Salari
Mobina Mahmoudi
Mohaddeseh Mokhtari
Mohaddeseh Seifi
Mona Khameneh Zadeh
Motahareh Ahmadi Zadeh

Nazanin Zahra Jazayeri
Nayesh Salehi
Noura Jahanshahi Gaz

Pinar Eskandari

Raha Eftekhari
Raha Heydari
Raha Shahmoradi
Reyhaneh Ahmadi
Reyhaneh Bagherianmanesh
Reyhaneh Heydari
Reyhaneh Loghmani
Reyhaneh Mahdikhah
Reyhaneh Ranjbar
Reyhaneh Salari
Reyhaneh Zahra Pourraeisi
Reyhaneh Zakeri
Roqayeh Shahmoradi

Sahar Ahmadi Zadeh
Samira Mallahi
Sara Shayesteh
Sarina Bagheri
Sedna Habibzadeh
Sedna Jokar
Sedna Tazipour
Selma Jahanshahi Gaz
Selma Zakeri
Setar Salari
Setayesh Ali Hosseini
Seyedeh Hana Nasibi
Sofia Salehizadeh

Taranom Rostami

Vania Dehghani
Vania Dehghani

Yas Sheikhabadi
Yasna Arabi
Yasna Pirami
Yasra Farab

Zahra Ahmadpour
Zahra Alizadeh
Zahra Chakari Zadeh
Zahra Hashemzadeh
Zahra Jalali
Zahra Jafari
Zahra Khoshdastmehrani Zadeh
Zahra Khosravani Fard
Zahra Mansouri
Zahra Naseri
Zahra Raeisi
Zahra Salari
Zahra Safirian
Zahra Sharifi Nejad
Zahra Soleimani
Zahra Zarei
Zahra Zare Mehrani
Zahra Zare Mehrani
Zeinab Jafari
Zeinab Maleki Zadeh
Zeinab Modiri
Zeinab Naseri
Zeinab Zamani
Zeinab Zarei
Zeinab Zare Mehrani
Zoha Pasand